


Depression and Full Moons

by wonderlandiscrumbling



Series: Fear and Delight [1]
Category: Fright Night (2011), Underworld (Movies)
Genre: Alcohol, Drugs, Gore, M/M, Mental Illness, Sex eventually, Substance Abuse, Trans Male Character, monster hunting, trans Peter Vincent, vampire hunting related violence, wolf related body horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:42:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 32,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23239390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonderlandiscrumbling/pseuds/wonderlandiscrumbling
Summary: Peter is determined to prove to himself that he can hunt on his own without assistance, that is until he's attacked by a vampire while on a job. Thankfully he's rescued by a mysterious long haired man in a black leather jacket.
Relationships: Lucian (Underworld)/Peter Vincent
Series: Fear and Delight [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1670890
Comments: 91
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic won't be long exactly, but it will be a few chapters. This is the beginning of a universe setting where Peter is trans, different origin for how the two of them met. This will all be in a series of its own with shorter fics throughout once i get everything worked and established.

He’d been staking out a vampire nest in a small town just outside of Vegas; there had been news stories about people going missing mostly the elderly, pairs of teenagers, and the occasional child. Most of the people going missing would eventually be found drained of their blood, two pinprick holes in the side of each victim’s neck. The cops assumed it to be a serial killer after the seventh victim that turned up, three victims were still missing, Peter safely assumed they had been kept and turned into vampires. He often wondered what made somebody qualified to be turned into a vampire; did they turn people they were physically attracted to, people who could be potentially unhinged and dangerous, or did they just pick the person who wanted it the least? Unbidden thoughts of himself being ravaged by vampires entered his mind, he tightened his grip on the steering wheel, uncapped his flask with the hand not clutching the wheel and took a long pull from it. He didn’t need to think about that, not now, not while on a job. He’d told Charley and Amy that he could do hunting jobs in Nevada on his own without their babysitting him, he was older than them, they shouldn’t have to worry about him.

His attention was caught by two figures approaching the house that he’d been watching. It was the only house that was vacated, it hadn’t been on the market for months due to a double homicide that had occurred, nobody wished to purchase it, some people in the area apparently wanted the home demolished just so it wouldn’t be there as a reminder of the crime. Except now two people were entering the front door of the house, light spilling out from the open door making them just the slightest bit easier to make out from where he sat in in his car. It appeared to be a young woman in a red jumper and blue jeans, she was following a man with short black hair into the house. He tried to estimate how many there were, maybe it was just the two, maybe they were spread out. He took another pull from his flask emptying it, tossing it onto the passenger seat. He reached into the backseat grabbing his duffel bag and pulling it to the front, he unzipped it pulling out a wooden stake as well as a double barrel shotgun. Silver was effective, not every time, but most of the time he’d come to notice. One thing he hated discovering was that there were different strains of vampires in the world; the books in his penthouse told of different breeds, but he used to believe that it was just miscommunication through languages and years. If these ones had an adverse reaction to silver then he was in the clear, especially if there were only two, if he shot them and it only pissed them off then well….He supposed he had a decent run of it.

He got out of his car before he could think anymore on it. He kept low sneaking through the darkness and around the back of the house where he found a backdoor leading to a kitchen. He tried the knob, not surprised it was locked. He sighed frustrated as he pulled out the small lock picking kit he kept with him, remembered how as a teenager he would have just smashed a rock through the small window of the door or used one of his bobby pins to jimmy this open, he had to admit this was cleaner and less aggravating. The lock clicked, thank god. He quietly pushed open the door stepping into the tiny kitchen, the room was dark, the one room of the house he knew would never be used by its current residents. He could hear voices coming from within the living room, but couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, not that he exactly cared. He sneaked towards the doorway keeping close to the wall, he peaked around the corner peering into the living room. He spotted the young woman sitting on an old off-color recliner, tufts of stuffing sticking out of the upholstery. Her brow was furrowed, red eyes glaring up at the man as she yelled at him. 

“You told me there weren’t any of them in this area!” She yelled at him, a hiss to her voice.

The man ran his hand back through his hair, he looked jittery and aggravated. Peter wondered if he was younger, if he was newly turned. There was no way it was just these two.

“There weren’t, there weren’t supposed to be. Nobody has seen them in years, my friend from LA told me that they’d been slain.” 

“Your friend is a fucking idiot.” She growled out at him.

Before Peter could register it, he was on her, hand on her throat, blocking her from his view.

“Do not insult the man who sired me.”

As much as Peter adored watching drama occur between people who were not him, he felt this was a great opportunity to take them out. He stepped into the doorway aiming cocking the shotgun, the clicking made the man tense, he rose, but before he could turn Peter shot the rifle. A piercing scream emitted from the vampire as he fell back onto the floor, smoke pouring from the growing wounds in his chest. He clawed at his chest, body writhing on the floor. The woman was up and at him before he could register her movements, she grabbed the barrel of the shotgun ripping it out of his hands and hitting his jaw hard with the butt of it knocking him back into the kitchen where his back collided with the small dining table toppling it over. She tossed the gun to the side, rage filling her red eyes as she stared down at him, a cruel smile tugging at violet painted lips as she pounced on him. She cupped his jaw in one hand, her nails pressing into his skin nearly breaking it open, he could feel cold rotted breath against his face gagging him, he kicked out his legs, tried to push her off him, but she grabbed the wrist of his left hand with her free one squeezing hard until he felt something crack. He screamed, he was pretty sure he screamed, the sound was so horrid and pained that he hardly registered it as coming from himself.

“He was a waste, but this still isn’t your territory, hunter.” She said as she continued squeezing his most definitely broken wrist.

He wondered if she would turn him, she didn’t seem like the type who liked to turn people into vampires. Panic flooded him at the thought of being turned, at becoming like her, like the one who was dead in the living room. His mind shorted out on him as his struggling ceased, he prayed she would just kill him, eat him, or whatever else she wanted to do. 

A shot sounded through the kitchen; blood splattered across Peter’s face. The vampire’s eyes widened, blood spilling from her eyes, her mouth hung open as she slumped down against him, her grip on him going slack. After a moment Peter shoved her off him, rolled onto his side and struggled to get to his feet, he backed up until he was pressed against the fridge. He quickly registered that there was a man in the kitchen holding his shotgun; a man just a tad bit shorter than himself, his hair was long and dark nearly black it hung down past his shoulder towards his back, his dark blue eyes that looked exhausted stared down at the vampire before turning to Peter. 

“Did she bite you?” He asked, his accent sounded vaguely English, but not quite.

Peter was too in shock to exactly wonder if he was English or if he was just losing his mind, he hadn’t heard anybody else in the house, hadn’t heard anybody enter. Had this man followed him? The man was on him soon, roughly jerking his head left to right inspecting him for bite marks, Peter placed a hand against his chest shoving him back.

“No, she didn’t, who the fuck are you?” He asked, frustrated, still shaking.

His wrist was throbbing, he wanted to cry from the pain. He cradled it against his chest, attempted to look like he wasn’t on the verge of a breakdown.

The man relaxed seeming to realize it was just the slightest bit rude to manhandle complete strangers. “I’m Lucian, I didn’t think anybody else would be here, I’ve been watching them for weeks now.”

“Weeks? You hunt vampires, when the Hell did you get in here?”

“I came inside shortly after you shot that one in the living room, the noise caught me off guard, then I saw…. Well what was happening a minute ago, is your wrist broken?” He asked pointing at it, seeming less on the ready to touch him now.

“Yeah think it is, fucking asshole went and had a death grip on it. Just what I need, broken wrist, nearly died.” 

Sure, he had killed one on his own, but if it hadn’t been for this random guy in the black leather jacket, Lucian, then he would probably be dead right now, or worse. He knew he was lucky to just have a broken wrist, but he was still bitter that he couldn’t take two vampires out on his own without assistance. It made him feel that he’d been right in thinking he could have never saved his parents back then or even now. 

“Can you drive?” Lucian asked pulling him from his thoughts.

“I probably shouldn’t, kinda been drinking a bit too before I came in here.”

“I can tell, I can drive you, to the hospital.” He offered.

Peter eyed him suspiciously then realized that might be a bit rude to be suspicious of the man who just saved his life. If he wanted to hurt him or kill him then he would have already, he didn’t look quite as exhausted or angry right now, it was like there was this softness to him all the sudden. Peter knew maybe he was just seeing things, after all he wasn’t used to strange mysterious attractive men who wore as much black as he did saving him from violent death.

“Yeah, sure, my car is on the street. Guess we can use the front door now.” He said pushing away from the fridge and leading his savior through the living room.

He paused to look down at the body on the floor, a chill running through him at the frozen look of pain on the vampire’s face, he wondered if anybody had heard the gunshots. He supposed that gave them more reason to get the Hell out of the house. 

Outside the air was as cold as it had been before he’d come inside the house, he felt almost paranoid as he looked around the miles of nothing. There were homes, but they weren’t built close together, still within earshot enough that somebody had to have heard a series of shots going off. Peter led Lucian to his car, he held the passenger door open for Peter before getting in on the driver side. He handed the keys to Lucian deciding now it was safe enough to relax. He sighed as he closed his eyes leaning his head back against the headrest, the pain in his wrist alternated between dull and stinging. There was a silence filling the car, not that Peter hated it. Sure, he should be asking this man a million different questions like if he was a professional hunter, if he was local, if he just travelled the world killing vampires and saving daft idiots. 

“My name’s Peter by the way, forgot to mention that back in the house.” He finally said turning his head to look at the man driving.

A small smile tugged at his lips; eyes still fixed straight ahead as they made their way into what counted as the lively part of the small town. “Peter, it’s nice to meet you. Do you live here?”

“In this shit hole? God no, I live in Vegas, been there for years. Never heard of me?”

Lucian glanced at him then back at the road, “afraid not, should I have?”

“I’m Peter Vincent, I fucking have a show on the strip, made millions doing that. Sometimes I do extreme magic and other times, mostly I do shows where I kill sexy vampires and save sexy women.”

“Sounds…Charming,”

Peter glared at him, “it’s brilliant is what it is, people eat that shit up you know.” 

He felt only the slightest bit offended when Lucian laughed, but he did make him laugh so he supposed that wasn’t too bad of a thing. “So, do you live here, in this town?”

“Not exactly, I travel a lot.”

So, he had been right about that at least. “How long have you been hunting vampires for?”

“Oh for…For a long time.” He answered vaguely.

If his wrist didn’t hurt so badly then he might ask him to elaborate on that vague response. After that the ride was relatively quiet, Peter felt more at ease now that he was mostly certain that the guy who saved his ass wasn’t going to kill him. He was nearly disappointed when they arrived at the hospital, he worried that he’d be let off and Lucian would just disappear on him. He seemed like the type to do that sort of thing. 

He was relieved and surprised when Lucian got out of the car with him, he offered no explanation and Peter didn’t ask him for one as they made their way into the building to sign in. Sure it was awkward sitting in a waiting room filling out a form about why he was there while Lucian sat next to him; he noticed how out of place the man looked in the brightly lit building, how young and aged he looked all at once. He had the appearance of somebody in their early to mid-20s, but something about him screamed that he was much older than that. He seemed the slightest bit uncomfortable in the waiting room, occasionally watching the other people sitting on the chairs across from theirs, he’d glance over at Peter looking away when the hunter made eye contact with him.

“Don’t have to stay if you don’t want.” 

“I know, I just, I can go if you want me to.” 

He didn’t. “No, you don’t have to, just you look uncomfortable as Hell.” 

Lucian smiled; he pushed his fingers back through his hair. “Sorry, suppose that I am. I have a history with hospitals, not a big fan of them. I also was hoping maybe you’d drop me off at my place after this, it isn’t far from here, just a temporary place I’m staying at.” 

“Sure, don’t mind at all, I think I owe you after you saved my life.”

“You don’t, I wouldn’t have felt right letting her kill you.”

Peter smiled at that; it was sweet in a way.

Once he turned the forms in it was another hour before a doctor came out to get him, after an x-ray it was dubbed that his wrist was in fact broken. His insurance covered at least a small portion of that, the rest he paid for out of pocket after they got him taken care of. The only thing he was really happy for was the prescription for pain killers they gave him before sending him on his way, he popped two pills in the waiting room and a third in the car. Lucian looked at him but chose to say nothing. He offered to drive, but Peter insisted that he was fine, besides he would have to adjust to driving with his other hand now while his wrist healed up. The ride was relatively quiet, he ended up turning the stereo on just to fill the silence, to not think about how he had almost died and now he was driving a rather attractive man to wherever it was he lived. As he followed his instructions they ended up on the outskirts of town, a small mobile home sat near the woods. 

“This is it, for now anyways.” He said sighing.

“Plan on moving soon?”

Lucian shrugged, “possibly, it’s good for me to keep moving.”

“You really do love being vague.” He pointed out smiling, Lucian laughed.

“Vague keeps me safe, I might tell you more, later though.”

Peter perked up at that, “plan on seeing me again then?”

“Stop by sometime, it’s been awhile since I’ve actually spoken to somebody. I promise I won’t just disappear anytime soon.” 

“Good, I plan on seeing you then.” 

Lucian smiled at him again, a small pause before he climbed out of the car. Peter watched him as he made his way up to the front door of the mobile home, almost hated how lonely he suddenly felt now that Lucian wasn’t in his car. Still though he had the promise of seeing him again, whenever he wanted. Once he was inside Peter backed up back onto the road and began his way back to Vegas, he debated on whether he should hit up a bar or just go back to his flat where he could take another pill and wash it down with whiskey. At least his night hadn’t ended too horribly, he could almost forget that he’d very nearly been killed.


	2. Chapter 2

Peter spent his night high on pain killers, then drunk, he passed out around four in the morning and didn’t wake again until two in the afternoon the following day. When he looked at his phone he had two texts from Amy telling him he needed to call Charley back, he had five missed calls from Charley as well as two angry texts from a woman he forgot to call back after promising her he would. Truly it was her fault for expecting more out of him. Once he showered, dressed, and grabbed himself a shot of whiskey he called Charley back, within a ring and a half the kid answered.

“Are you okay?” He asked, worry coating his words.

“Yeah, yeah, I am, hunt went fine. Got my wrist broken, nearly died, but made it home safe and sound.” He assured him as he looked at his bandaged wrist, it barely hurt, pushing the limit of his medication really did do wonders for extreme pain.

“Nearly died, what happened?”

“Well I shot one vampire, killed him, and then his lady friend pounced on me. Get this though, I think I’m gonna get my throat ripped out in some shit hole house, but all the sudden this random fucking guy comes and kills her.”

There’s silence and a lack of congratulations on the other end of the line. “What guy?”

“I dunno, Lucian, he said his name’s Lucian. No idea where he came from, did you know there were other vampire hunters out there?” Peter asked as he finished off his drink.

“Yeah I-I found that out after we killed Charley, wish I’d known sooner actually.” He said sighing.

“I’m going to pretend that isn’t a jab at me and my hunting skills. Could you at least be proud of me for surviving the night, besides the guy who saved me is extremely fucking hot, think I might go see him tonight.” He said mostly to himself as he poured himself another drink.

“So, there were only two vampires?” Charley asked, completely ignoring everything Peter said about the mysterious man he’d met.

“Yeah, what did you expect, like hundreds of them?”

“Something like that, there have been a lot of deaths and missing bodies. Did you check the entire house?”

“Course I did,” he said sounding properly offended despite the fact he did not check the rest of the house.

In his own defense he had been quite busy with trying not to be killed and then being driven to the hospital to get his wrist looked at. 

“I’m going to keep an eye on the news and online forums about bizarre sightings, I’ll let you know if anything comes up.”

“Sure, I’ll be here, as always.” 

He hung up setting his phone down on the bar top, he poured a third shot downing it. He hoped there were more, he still felt like he hadn’t proven anything to himself after last night. He’d proven that on his own he could indeed kill a single vampire, but he couldn’t take out two. He rubbed idly at the side of his neck thinking about how close he’d been to dying or being turned, the thought made him feel sick for a moment. He knew he owed his life to Lucian, almost wondered if he could coax him into going with him on his next hunt or more. It would be nice to spend more time with the guy, he was insanely attractive, weirdly quiet and mysterious. Peter could deal with that, he was never big on really learning too much about the people he was physically attracted to, and really this guy shouldn’t be much of an exception to that rule. 

Still he had to wonder why he wanted to kill vampires, the way he’d looked down at the body of the vampire in that house was strange. It reminded Peter of himself, that feeling that just one more dead might make a big impact on the world when in reality he knew it didn’t change shit. It didn’t matter how many vampires he or any other hunter took out, there’d always be a dozen or hundred more to take that one’s place. Now that he was learning there were different breeds and strains of vampire, he was realizing it didn’t matter if you took out a certain one, not all the time. It frustrated him, overwhelmed him knowing that maybe he wasn’t making any important changes in the world. He downed another shot hoping that more alcohol would push him away from increasingly depressing thoughts.

He tried instead to think about lighter things; like his show that he had tomorrow night, the assistant he was most definitely going to end up firing. He thought about how attractive Lucian was, prayed he was single, assumed that he was single especially with the constant moving like some rogue vigilante who killed monsters. He made himself frustrated thinking about how Charley and Amy despite being younger than him treated him as if he were the teenager in their group instead of a man in his early thirties, it was extremely insulting. He thought about how his own relatives treated him the same way, the occasional phone calls he’d receive from his aunt sounding concerned and doubtful that he was doing well. He couldn’t really blame people in his life for worrying and thinking the worst of him, he never in his life offered them any evidence that he was more than a self-centered moron who occasionally hurt himself. Well more than occasionally, not for a few years anyway, two years. He’d slipped after Ginger was killed, he wasn’t sure he’d ever loved her, but seeing her dead in the security monitor, knowing it was his fault because he couldn’t answer his own fucking door. She’d been alright, they’d gotten along on occasion, she hadn’t deserved to die. He looked down at the scar that ran along his forearm, remembered how he hadn’t even noticed himself breaking the wine bottle or picking up the shard of glass. 

“God damn it.” He cursed at himself as he grabbed the bottle of Jack off the top shelf and made his way towards the living room. 

He was going to drink and watch Desperate Housewives; he was not going to sit and brood and think about what a miserable bastard he was. Two hours later the bottle was half empty and he was passed out on the black leather couch, bottle held loosely in his hand. He only woke when the bottle dropped to the floor, the echoing thump of it startling him awake, he fell off the couch groaning at the sharp pain he felt in his head. He fished his phone out of his pocket seeing that it was a quarter after eleven, he supposed it was too late to go see Lucian, or maybe not. He wasn’t anywhere near as drunk as he’d been earlier in the day, supposed he could technically drive without getting himself killed. After a couple minutes he managed to get to his feet, he made sure to take his phone with him just in case Charley called him again worrying about his wellbeing. 

The late-night air did wonders to wake him up, the cold of it chilling him as he made his way to his car. He tried to remember the way to Lucian’s house; he remembered it was far out in the middle of practically nothing, near the woods. He wondered why he wanted to stay so far away from people, were monster hunters supposed to avoid people? He always figured it would be way cooler if it was like a superhero thing; he could have his main career as a performer and then on some nights he’d go out and kill vampires. He felt that sounded much cooler than locking himself away in a small mobile home in the middle of nowhere. Though sometimes he liked the idea of isolation; it got annoying having so many people around. He was depressed when he was around groupies, depressed when he was surrounded by people who adored what he had and who they thought he was. Sure, he loved a warm body in his bed, loved how strangers very rarely gave a fuck about him, about his past, or anything else. Still there was something empty in it. He felt like he was drowning sometimes with how empty he felt, like no matter what he did or achieved there was still this gaping void inside himself that drugs and alcohol never properly filled.

He'd really hoped that sobering up a bit would help him feel better, he wasn’t sure anymore if being sober or wasted helped him, both seemed bad these days. Still he tried to push those thoughts to the side when he pulled up outside the small home, he stalled in his car for a minute wondering if he really should after midnight now be bothering this guy, this guy that he barely knew. Then again it should be sooner than later for the guy to know what Peter was like most days. He took a deep breath calming himself before getting out of his car, only slightly stumbling as he approached the house. He got one knock in before the door was swung open, Lucian seemed just the slightest bit surprised to see him.

“Hey, look I know it’s late, but thought I’d come by.” He explained feeling just the slightest bit awkward now that he was here.

“It’s fine, I actually just got back a few minutes ago myself. Come in,” he said stepping aside letting Peter into the house.

The place was small, very small, and cluttered. There was a coffee table off to the right of them that was filled and spilling over with books and pieces of paper, the shelves lining the living room wall held glass bottles and boxes of ammunition. Peter got the vibe from it of those survivalists who worried the world would end at any second. He idled by the door watching as Lucian cleared books and a sword from the small couch giving them a place to sit. 

“All of this about vampires?” Peter asked as he flopped down on the couch.

“Mostly, I like to stay up on hot spots in the state and surrounding states. There are also a lot more strands of vampire viruses out there than I thought there were.” He said sitting next to him.

“Same here, used to think it was just the one kind.” 

“I don’t mean to sound rude, but did you get incredibly drunk before coming here?”

Peter smiled, “I did, well I got drunk and then I passed out, but I’m nowhere near as drunk as I was before then.” He realized as he spoke that that still sounded bad, he sounded like an absolute wreck. He sighed pushing his fingers back through his hair. “Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have just come here like this.”

“It’s fine, really. If you want you can crash here, leave when you’ve sobered up.” He offered.

He got the sense that Lucian was nervous, maybe he didn’t socialize often, or maybe he just worried it would be on him in some way if he let Peter drive back home drunk and he got into a wreck. 

“Appreciate that, really do, you’re way too nice to me. Guess it comes with not knowing me all that well yet.” He said laughing.

“Let’s just say I can use the company, I lost contact with the few people I knew a year ago.” He said smiling sadly.

Peter felt it was dangerously safe to assume those people were now dead. “Sorry, I’m probably not great company.” 

“You are, in your own way.” 

He smiled, “I’ll take that as a compliment. Look I was wondering about something earlier, before I got drunk; do you think maybe we could hunt together? Like I think my chances of getting killed are a hell of a lot lower if I got you with me.” 

“We could do that, there’s actually been a few nests around here that I’ve been keeping tabs on. We can discuss that more when you sober up in the morning though.” He said offering a small smile, Peter felt his heart skip a beat, he was lovely when he smiled.

Sure, this wasn’t the way that Peter imagined himself ending up in this guy’s home spending the night, but he would take it. He wasn’t disappointed when Lucian handed him a blanket before going off to whatever passed for a bedroom in a place this tiny. It wasn’t the worst place he’d found himself drunk and falling asleep in, at least he felt safe with Lucian one room away, it was a bizarre thing falling asleep feeling safe, he hadn’t felt safe since he was a little kid.


	3. Chapter 3

Peter was momentarily confused when he woke up hungover on a cheap couch that smelled of dog. It took him a minute to remember that he’d made the genius decision to drive out to Lucian’s place, because nothing made a better impression on a guy than showing up to his place late at night drunk as Hell. Though admittedly Lucian hadn’t seemed the slightest bit upset by it, he really did have to be one lonely bastard to not care about that. Still it was a bit embarrassing, he wanted him to think for just a second that just maybe he was put together and not a complete mess. 

He pulled his phone out of his pocket checking the time, it was close to noon. He got up from the couch, head throbbing as well as his back and his neck. He mentally kicked himself for not bringing any of his pills with him, he could use those right now, then again, when couldn’t he?

He snooped around the living room picking up the books that were scattered practically everywhere; most of the books were long out of print, they seemed ancient and expensive, some not in English. He found a few journals that appeared to be hundreds of years old, the writing within them quite lovely and elegant; there were entries about vampires, about castles run by them. He read on to see more about werewolves, something about lycans, he’d heard of lycans, but he didn’t know much about them. He admittedly put his interests almost solely into vampires, but he did suppose other hunters branched out reading up on all sorts of monsters that may or may not exist.

“Good you’re finally awake, I was starting to worry.”

Peter put away the book he’d been flipping through turning his attention to Lucian who looked tired as usual, but still more put together than Peter. “Yeah sorry about that, had too much to drink y’know.” He said laughing awkwardly.

He was an idiot; it was ridiculous falling asleep on a guy’s couch. He hardly knew Lucian, he’d like to remedy that, but it was difficult when they didn’t meet in the best of terms.

“I noticed; do you remember me telling you about those vampires we killed?” 

“More or less,” 

He didn’t remember too much, other than Lucian being nice enough to insist on him spending the night in his home instead of making him leave. It wasn’t often that anybody worried about Peter’s wellbeing, he was nearly suspicious why somebody would care, especially somebody who barely knew him. He guessed that was why.

“Right, well the ones we killed aren’t the only ones.”

“No shit, kind of noticed there’s a lot of vampires.”

Lucian smiled, “not what I meant. I mean that there’s a nest of them; they apparently came from LA, but for whatever reason have travelled to this area specifically. They don’t appear to be keeping too close together, spreading out, perhaps to make it harder for hunters to track them down.” He explained while Peter nodded doing his best to ignore the throbbing in his head and focus on what was being said.

“So, you know where the others are?”

“Some of them, there’s a neighborhood not far from here that is more or less vacated. There’s at least four living there, I don’t know exactly what homes, but I was thinking tonight maybe that we could go out there and watch them. Just to see which homes they’re staying in, make sure there aren’t too many of them, enough for us to take on.” 

Us, he liked the sound of that, he wasn’t really sure when they’d become an us or a hunting team. He wondered if Lucian was like Charley, only coming to him for help and assistance because there was nobody else nearby. The thought dampened his mood a bit.

“Right, so do you want me to bring anything?” 

“That rifle of yours, silver works on them, thankfully. I have enough weapons to cover us for close combat, I make and collect swords.” 

Peter raised an eyebrow at that, “you make swords?” He asked slowly, he knew there were people who made weapons, but that didn’t make it any less odd to meet somebody who did that for a living.

“Yes, I’ve been doing it since I was a teenager actually.” He said, smiling fondly as if he’d been waiting forever for somebody to talk to him about this.

“That is….That’s really impressive, I can’t fucking make anything.”

He was useless when it came to creating things, well he could put together a molotov cocktail, but that was the extent of his creativeness at the end of the day. He wondered exactly what use Lucian had with him, he didn’t see what he had to offer him. He hated himself for thinking that way, but he couldn’t help it. He was so close to just asking him, desperate to know why somebody who made their own weapons would need the help of a rookie vampire slayer who couldn’t even keep his own ass safe.

“I’m sure that you have other talents, you do seem good at hunting, well except for the one that nearly killed you.”

Peter smiled, “yeah I’m really good at two things; hiding and nearly getting myself killed.” He replied bitterly. “Anyways what time do you want to meet up tonight?” He asked deciding it best to change the topic quickly.

Lucian quietly regarded him for a moment, a look of worry flashing in his eyes. “Around nine, meet me here, and then we can drive out there.”

“Sounds good, I should probably get going now, got some things to do. Thanks again, for letting me crash on your couch like that, promise I won’t make a habit of that.” 

“I don’t mind, but perhaps under different conditions.” 

Peter felt his heart skip a beat at that, at the softness in his voice and the way he looked at him. Maybe he hadn’t completely fucked any chance he’d possibly had with him. 

“Course, good, sounds good. See you tonight then.” He said as he made his way to the door.

He could feel Lucian watching him as he exited his house. There was something refreshing about the bright sunlight and the too hot air that was nearly suffocating, because at least outside heading to his car he couldn’t make himself look like an idiot again. Typically, he felt more at ease when he was physically attracted to a person, not always of course, but over the years it got easier. He’d been doing hormone therapy for years now, got his chest surgery three years ago, and he found in Vegas nobody exactly gave a shit about what was between your legs. Before all that he’d been nervous, awkward, miserable; sure, he’d hook up with guys and girls when he still had lived in England, but it never felt right. He’d always felt like he was lying to them, lying to himself, always walked away feeling like he wanted to claw out of his own skin. Then he’d gotten the Hell out of England, came to Vegas where he could change everything about himself, tweak and hide away the little pieces of himself he’d always hated oh so much. Minus his depression and countless insecurities, he was superficially secure in himself, in his appearance and his sex appeal. Sex was easy, it could be easy, but suddenly the thought of it didn’t feel that easy.

Sure, there was the fact that it would probably be a bad idea to have sex with Lucian. They hardly knew each other, they’d only met twice now, and would be spending the night together hunting vampires, not the most arousing or romantic thing in the world. There was also this annoying little fact that he liked the guy; he was physically beautiful, he was mysterious but not in this way that made him insufferable, he was nice. That was the thing that worried him the most, Lucian seemed like a nice guy, when Peter did date, he didn’t go for nice people. He dated people who just barely tolerated him and then within a month or two into a relationship they very nearly hated him, because the last thing he ever wanted was for them to truly care for him.

He groaned frustrated as he turned the stereo up loud enough that the music playing nearly made his ears hurt, his headache only worsening as he left the small town behind and returned to Vegas where everything was too bright and full of falsehoods. He felt safe in Vegas, he’d felt like he was home the very second, he’d arrived in this place. He’d perfected the art of bull shit and hiding and lying from a young age. He’d learned that the truth got you nowhere, trying to be open and exposing all those sad bits of yourself only left you with a deep gut-wrenching pain. Nobody here asked about the scars on his arms, they didn’t question it if he broke down crying after having one too many drinks, they didn’t care if he over dosed or if he lost his mind completely. So long as he could perform his shows every night or most nights then the people were satisfied, so long as he could provide various men and women with drugs and booze then they were happy to have sex with him, happy to help him forget many things for a night or two. 

Lucian didn’t know any of that though; he surely had to be coming to the realization that Peter drank too much and abused prescriptions that most the time weren’t even his, but he didn’t know the layers of his being. Peter wanted to keep it that way; they could hunt together, they could chat, and maybe even have a drink together sometime, but nothing more. He told himself that as he drove to his flat, reminded himself of that as he unlocked the door to his penthouse and stepped inside. By the time he was in the shower the thought left him and he was back on thinking about Lucian offering to let him crash on his couch again, maybe they could share a bed, he wondered if his bed was nice. He doubted that it was, probably just something cheap and temporary, not that Peter minded. He leaned his head back against the shower wall thinking about it, about him, mind wandering as he thought about lovely yet haunting deep blue eyes and long dark hair that he would love to pull and tug. He slipped a hand between his legs rubbing at himself as he imagined how fucking delicious it would be to have Lucian’s face buried between his legs, eagerly licking him, bringing him to orgasm then fucking him senseless. He came to the image of it, a mild feeling of guilt after he came down from that lovely little post climax high.

“Good job Peter, what part of don’t fucking think about it, didn’t you understand?” He asked himself as he stepped out of the shower.

He already dreaded how tonight was going to go if his mind kept wandering this way, at least he could take his frustrations out by killing vampires.


	4. Chapter 4

Peter made sure to text Charley before he headed out to see Lucian, just to let the kid know he was alive, and he was on a job now with what he deemed a professional monster hunter. He felt ridiculously sending reassuring text messages to a person younger than him, but Charley worried. Peter hated him a bit for it. He even managed to behave himself by downing four shots of whiskey before grabbing his jacket, his shotgun, extra rounds, and heading out into the night. It felt like a nice night for a hunt, if that were such a thing, or perhaps he was just looking forward to seeing Lucian again. It was probably that second thing, he couldn’t help himself really, well he could help himself by not masturbating while thinking about a guy he hardly knew. He assured himself each time it happened that it was in no way weird, but then post orgasm laying in bed sweaty and out of breath he’d be hit with the realization that it was most definitely weird. He didn’t know what was up with him, he didn’t really feel this way about people, not anymore.

Sure, when he’d been a teenager, before hormone therapy, his hair long and his shirts always two sizes too big to hide his chest, and his voice so horribly squeaky he’d felt this way. He’d felt insecure, but then he’d have days where he’d think ‘fuck it’, put on a white tank top, a leather jacket, and just go out; he remembered shaving his head once in a fit. His uncle had been angry about that. He sometimes wondered if his parents would have been okay with him, if they would have been mad or disappointed, grieved their daughter. He shook the thoughts from his head as he drove into the night. He reminded himself to put all of this bull shit into his job, to just let it go through aggression taken out on vampires. He didn’t know if that was a healthy approach, his last therapist who he’d stopped seeing a month ago had told him to find a healthy outlet for his feelings. She’d had a lot of advice for him, given him medication for his depression, he did take his meds, when he remembered, and then when he forgot his depression hit him like a truck. 

He was sure that Lucian would love knowing all this. If they continued to work together and hang out then he’d get a chance to find out, it didn’t take long for people to find out the sort of person that Peter truly was. He could be suave when he wanted to be, could clean up real nice, and pretend just for a little bit that he wasn’t a total asshole. Then the mask would slip, he’d have a panic attack in public, cry in bed at night, or just not leave his bed at all for days at a time. Then of course his drunk benders and his nonstop drinking to the point that it just maybe might very well be a problem, it was why he’d stopped seeing his last therapist; she’d suggested he had a substance abuse problem. The second she’d mentioned meetings and rehab he’d felt panic rise in his throat and just had to get out of there for good. He didn’t like the idea of rehab, he felt it was a joke, most people he knew who’d been ended up falling off the wagon soon after or turning to God. He didn’t want to find peace in God, he wanted to find peace in slaying every vampire he could get his hands on until he was certain nobody else would have to suffer the pain he’d suffered as a child.

These thoughts were buried deep down in the darkness of his mind when he pulled up to Lucian’s place, his newfound friend already outside waiting for him. Peter couldn’t help but smile as he looked at him, he looked like the type who knew what he was doing with his life, sure he moved constantly, and lived in a home hardly fit for one person, but he seemed like an adult. He seemed like the type of person who could hold his shit together and had no time for people like Peter. 

“I see you brought the gun.” Lucian said as he opened the back door tossing in his own bag.

Peter turned to look at the bag, he could see the handle of a sword sticking out of it. “See you brought a sword, make it yourself?” He asked as Lucian climbed into the passenger seat.

“I did, awhile ago, before I came here.” There was a proudness in his tone, the way he held himself, Peter found it rather endearing that he was so proud of his work making weapons.

“Where were you before here?” He asked as he pulled away from the property and back onto the main road. 

“I’ve been a few places; I was in California and before that Arizona. I had to lay low for awhile back in the early part of the 2000s, but for the most part that’s begun to settle down.” 

He really wanted to ask him more about that, but it felt like a topic they weren’t quite ready to speak about. “So, you said there’d be about four of them?”

“There should be, we just need to watch them, hope that they gather in one singular home. If they’re spread out, then they might have the upper hand over us.” 

The neighborhood that they ended up in was indeed quite dead to the world. There were cars parked on either side of the street here and there, but still there was this sensation that there’d been no human life here in quite some time. He felt uneasy the second they pulled up behind a parked car, felt like they’d entered some other world full of monsters, which he supposed they had. He worried they’d be spotted, that the vampires were expecting them to show up, or maybe they’d all moved onto some place else. 

“So, your shows, why do you do them?” Lucian asked breaking the silence that had fallen between them.

“Why wouldn’t I, pays the bills, and I’m rich because of it.” 

“Why vampires, it just seems a tad bit inappropriate I suppose. I know that humans do have a fascination with vampires, but for a hunter it just seems strange.” 

Peter rolled his eyes; he didn’t understand why everybody had to be a critic when it came to his show. “Look who doesn’t want to play the hero and besides I do as you know hunt actual vampires, not just sexy paid actress ones.” 

Lucian smirked, “I still think it’s strange.”

“Well what do you do for a living then?”

“This,”

“Wait, you get paid for this?”

Lucian shrugged, “occasionally, if I’m offered a job to investigate or to hunt then I’m often paid.”

“Fucking Hell, like don’t get me wrong I get paid sometimes, but mostly nobody takes me seriously about my being a hunter.”

“I think that might have something to do with your website, it’s rather tacky, very early 2000s.” 

Peter glared at him, “you think you could do better?”

Lucian smiled fondly at him; Peter found it difficult to even feign anger suddenly. “No, I don’t have any computer skills, just basic ones really.” 

“Hey, do you think like after this, not tonight obviously, but some other time we could go out. Like we could go get a drink together or something.” He offered; gaze fixed ahead out the windscreen unsure if he could handle looking at Lucian right now.

“I’d like that,”

He breathed a sigh of relief, “cool, cool, we can work that out, later, after this.” He said trying to sound calm about this, it wasn’t like it was exactly a date per say. He was fine with it if they just went out as friends going to go get drunk together, talk more, he liked talking to him.

He didn’t exactly get the feeling that Lucian was trying to parent him, sure he’d driven him to the hospital and let him pass out on his couch, but he didn’t seem to really judge him or anything so far. That could of course always change, but Peter wanted to hang onto the hope that maybe it would stay like this, for a little while longer.

The movement of two shadows going from one home to another caught his eye, he leaned forward over the steering wheel to get a better look watching as the two far off figures entered a two-story home. 

“Think we should follow them?” 

His answer came in the form of Lucian getting out of the car grabbing the sword from the backseat, Peter got out grabbing his gun. He followed Lucian onto the opposite sidewalk to where they were parked, both keeping low as they moved behind the rows of abandoned homes, sticking to the shadows the best that they could as they approached the home the two vampires had entered. A sliding glass door was set in the back of the home, surprisingly it was unlocked, sliding open with ease. Lucian entered first, sword gripped tightly in his hand as they entered a small dining room, to the left of them was an even smaller kitchen, both rooms unused. Peter could faintly hear voices in the next room, what he could make out it sounded like two men. They paused at the doorway, Lucian peeking around the corner to get a better look at them.

“You swore to me that they were cleared out, now you’re telling me there’s a fucking lycan left in the area?” 

“I didn’t know, I just thought Lisa had seen wrong.”

Peter heard a crash, the sound making him jump. 

“You fucking idiot, I’m not in the mood for this.” 

He glanced around the corner to see a male vampire who looked to be a boy in his late teens sat on the floor, back against a stand that held a TV which was now crashed on the floor. He looked scared as he stared up at an older man. Peter got caught up in watching them, wondering what they meant by lycans, he was startled when Lucian placed a hand against his arm, nodding for him to follow him into the living room. Peter drew in a deep breath as he followed him into the other room. In a series of quick events Peter managed to cock the gun and shoot the boy on the floor in the chest, by the time the older one reacted, growling as he lunged at Lucian a sword slammed into his chest and out his back, the vampire thrashing and screaming before he went limp. Lucian placed his foot against the corpse’s stomach pushing him off his sword, the body thumping to the floor. The only real flaw in the plan was they’d not noticed the door in the kitchen leading into a basement. Peter was grabbed by the back of the neck thrown to the floor, he landed hard on his injured wrist crying out in pain. Lucian turned too slow, a gun that did not belong to Peter shot off, the sound deafening. Peter’s eyes widened as he watched the bullet pierce into Lucian’s shoulder, a second hitting his stomach. He scrambled to his feet grabbing his own gun, his movements awkward and clumsy as he tried to load it with one hand, a woman with short red hair grabbed the barrel of the gun ripping it from his hand and tossing it to the floor. She slammed into him throwing him down on the living room floor, he landed near Lucian who was sprawled out on the ground, eyes closed tightly as he writhed in pain. Peter spotted his sword just within reach, he reached up with his good hand grabbing the woman by her hair yanking hard and shoving her off him. He grabbed the sword before she could get on him again, plunging the blade into her heart. Another vampire charged him, only to be stopped when Lucian tackled him to the ground, a low growl ripping from the hunter’s throat as he pinned the vampire to the floor.

Peter stood frozen watching as Lucian ripped into the vampire’s throat with his teeth, teeth that were now incredibly sharp. He swallowed hard as he noticed the way his eyes had changed, no longer a deep blue, they were now pale and haunting almost like the glazed over stare of a long dead corpse. Peter backed up until his back thumped against the wall, a part of his brain screamed for him to get the Hell out of the house and get away from here as fast as possible, but that thought faded from him when Lucian climbed to his feet wiping his arm across his blood soaked mouth. He turned to face him, eyes still ghastly and pale.

“Y-you’re one of them, a fucking vampire.” He accused, body trembling, his arm ached as well as his head. 

Lucian raised his hands in surrender as he slowly approached him, Peter noticed the way he limped, the blood still running from the gunshot wounds in his body, a very small part of him wanted to help him.

“I’m not, I’m not a vampire, wolf, a lycan. Peter I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.” His voice shook from the pain he was obviously in.

Peter tried to process it, process what he was seeing and hearing. He’d heard of lycans, well more correctly he knew about werewolves more so; he didn’t exactly have an issue with other creatures that weren’t vampires, but he’d not expected to meet one or be working with one. There was something even now in the way that Lucian looked at him that made him realize that he wasn’t lying, he wouldn’t hurt him, not right now. Peter dropped the sword, he moved away from the wall moving towards him, he wrapped an arm around his waist. 

“We need to go back to my place.” Lucian informed him as Peter guided him back outside and to his car.

His car that would soon need to be scrubbed clean of blood, not for the first time since his side job of monster hunting began, well vampire hunting. He supposed he wasn’t exactly a monster hunter if he didn’t plan on killing Lucian. The thought of that alone actually made his stomach hurt, he’d been kind to him, he didn’t kill anybody as far as Peter was aware. He supposed he could ask these questions later so long as Lucian didn’t bleed to death.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Peter asked as he drove down the empty streets, going twenty above the speed limit.

“Didn’t have a chance, did I? It’s not a way to just introduce yourself, saying you’re a lycan.” There was an edge to his voice, couldn’t be blamed for that, it was perhaps a stupid question.

“Why can’t I take you to the hospital?” 

“Silver, besides I can’t go looking like this.”

Peter nodded, it made sense, he chose to stop asking questions. He knew his questions were moronic, but he wanted to know; he wanted to know why the vampires had been talking about clearing out lycans, not wanting any in the area. He wondered if this was some species situation, if that was why Lucian hunted vampires. He chanced glancing over at him, saw the two blood stained bullets held in the palm of Lucian’s hand, he decided to not ask him about that. 

When they arrived at his home Peter helped him out of the car and inside, guided him back to a bedroom that was just as small and bare as he’d imagined it being. There was though a full-sized bed pressed against the wall, only a comforter laid across the mattress, a single lamp on a table next to the bed. 

“There’s a vial in the fridge as well as a bottle with blood in it, I need you to get those for me.”

“Blood?”

“Peter,”

“Right, sorry,” he muttered as he left the room going to the kitchen. Inside the fridge was a strange mixture of things; water, leftover normal human food, a vial with blue liquid inside and beside that at least six clear glass bottles filled with a crimson liquid. 

He tried to remember what wolf like monsters even consumed, he was assuming that regular food was on the diet, but it seemed blood was as well. He returned to the bedroom to find Lucian shirtless, the wound in his shoulder and his stomach weren’t terribly big, but blood still poured from the wounds running down over his pale skin. Peter handed him the items, moving back to the doorway as he watched him consuming them both; he was amazed to see the wounds begin to close, skin growing over the entry wounds, Lucian grimacing in pain at the process of it all. There was a heavy tense silence in the air as Lucian sat on the bed still trembling, breathing ragged, his eyes were normal the next time he looked up at Peter, worry and fear evident in his gaze.

“If you want to leave then I understand.” He informed him, voice gentle and full of pained understanding.

Peter knew that he should probably leave, he should leave, and he should never speak to him again. He didn’t know why though, Lucian hadn’t hurt him, or posed any threat towards him during the short time they’d known each other. He saved his life, offered him a place to spend the night, and never once harmed him.

“The blood, is it human?”

“Yes, but I didn’t kill anybody to get it. Yes, I have in the past, a long time ago killed some people, but that was in the past.”

Peter let out a short dry laugh as he pushed his fingers back through his hair. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“No,”

“What now?”

“That’s up to you.”

Peter stared at him; he wasn’t even angry at him. He was more frustrated with himself, despite how much he wanted to be terrified and full of rage at the fact he’d befriended a monster he couldn’t feel that way. He didn’t know him enough to be properly angry with him, besides Lucian for whatever reason was saving peoples lives.

“I don’t want to leave.” He finally admitted.

Lucian nodded, he patted the spot next to him on the bed, after a moment’s hesitation Peter cautiously approached the bed sitting next to him. “So, you, when did you get turned into this?”

“I didn’t get turned; I was born this way.” 

Peter furrowed his brow in confusion, he turned to face him. “So, like your mom and dad were lycans?”

He smiled sadly in response to that question, “no, well apparently my mother was a human bitten by a werewolf while she’d been pregnant with me. She’d been a wolf when she birthed me, I was seemingly human until I turned thirteen.” 

“What happened to her?”

“She was murdered by my master.” There was a hidden pained anger in his voice, gaze focused on the floor as he spoke as if he could vividly remember all of this.

“What do you mean master?”

“That isn’t very important right now.” 

Peter wanted to argue that it was, all of this was very important, but he looked off talking about this. He placed a hand over his, fingers stroking against blood-soaked skin. 

“Is your wrist okay?” 

“Hurts a bit, it’ll be fine, how about you? You’re the one who got fucking shot twice.”

Lucian smiled, “it’s better now, thank you. I’m not overly fond of dying.” 

“I’d hate for you to die, you’re the most interesting person I know.” 

He felt relaxed now, sure he still had worries, and there was a lot he didn’t know at all, but he knew Lucian wasn’t going to kill him. Peter moved further onto the bed, back resting against the wall, legs stretched out in front of himself. Lucian looked at him for a moment before moving to sit next to him, placing a hand over his. 

“Still want to go on a date with me then?”

“Of course, I’d be an absolute prick dropping out on a date with you over this.” He responded as he laid his head against his shoulder.

He didn’t imagine his night ending with finding out Lucian wasn’t human and falling asleep with his head on his shoulder. He knew perhaps it was reckless and just plain stupid to be doing this, to put this immense amount of trust into somebody who wasn’t even a human, but he couldn’t help himself.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally a sex scene occurs. My cat has been sleeping on me for a good part of the day, so I didn't even think I'd get much of a chance to write an update today.

Peter felt ridiculous for the anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach as he sat at a small table near the front of the bar waiting for Lucian. They’d agreed upon meeting at a bar just a few minutes away from Peter’s flat, convenience really. He wasn’t accustomed to feeling nervous, he rarely felt nervous about seeing people or going out with people. Besides this didn’t necessarily have to be labelled as a date he reminded himself as he finished his second shot of vodka to ease his nerves, it didn’t help as much as he’d liked it to. He reminded himself that this was nothing other than a good opportunity to learn more about who and what the Hell he even was. Peter had ended up spending the hours before heading out to the bar to read up on werewolves and lycans. He’d known about them more or less, but they weren’t his area of expertise. The craziest part in reading up on the creatures was reading that there had hundreds of years ago been the very first lycan, born of a female werewolf, born into slavery, and raised by vampires. Peter was still thinking about that, compared to what Lucian had disclosed to him as they’d sat together on his bed, and he realized that Lucian was the lycan mentioned in that paragraph. The details were vague, spotty, because the person who compiled all the research was going off legends and rumors more than anything. Peter knew there’d been a war, started by the first lycan, and human slaves that had been forcefully changed. He didn’t even have to ask why they’d turned against the vampires, who wouldn’t given the chance?

Still it was bizarre to think about, he looked young; he looked to be somewhere in his twenties, but if Peter was right then he was closer to a thousand years old. That was insane, he didn’t know how to fully process that, but he did assume it was about right for him to get attracted to a guy who wasn’t remotely human. Well he was, outwardly he was human, but then he remembered the eyes and the rows of sharp teeth, and that was very much not human. Humans didn’t do things like that, but supernatural beings did. This one also could turn into a very large wolf that looked like it might have a slight case of mange, at least according to the crude sketches he’d found online. He’d found a lot of things, stories, and news reports from other cities where there were reports of vampires and lycans being detained and destroyed. Then suddenly it seemed the whole thing was brushed under the rug, the news outlets reporting that it was all a misunderstanding. Not surprising, Peter heard lots of stories like that; the high school in LA where there had been a mass vampire attack, the school and the local government had tried to say it was just gang related. Peter knew that humans didn’t handle the unknown well, he himself had grown up and gone into his early thirties believing that vampires weren’t real, convinced himself that he was just insane and coping with trauma through fairytales. Some days he wished he was still living that safe little lie that monsters weren’t real, that regular humans had killed his parents.

Then again if he’d stayed in that lie, he wouldn’t have gone vampire hunting on his own, wouldn’t have met a gorgeous lycan. He still felt that he should be more upset about this than he really was, he felt relief just knowing that Lucian wasn’t a vampire, he wasn’t sure he could have handled it if that had been the case. 

“Hey, I see you started drinking already.”

Peter looked up, smiling at him. “Yeah sorry ‘bout that, been here for about half an hour.” He waved the waitress over ordering a round of shots for them.

Lucian sat down in the chair across from him, eyes curiously scanning the mostly empty bar they were sat in. By Vegas standards it was a very blasé place, it was standard, a place that you could find in any part of America or the UK really. People who came to Vegas liked slot machines in every corner, strippers, and the promise of a wild night. A quiet little bar with dirty hardwood floors and a jukebox in the back corner offered nothing but depressing normalcy.

“It’s fine, do you come here often?”

“No, just thought it’s close to my place, and it’s typically quiet.” 

Lucian smiled, he thanked the waitress as she dropped off their drinks, downed two and left the rest for Peter. 

“So, before I came down here, I was reading about lycans, felt it only right y’know, and the books I read mentioned the first lycan like almost a thousand years ago. Safe to say that would be you.” He felt proud of himself for reading up for once, the way Lucian looked at him made him feel he was proud of him as well for it.

“Correct, you read about my upbringing then I assume.” His voice was softer as he spoke, almost like he wasn’t entirely comfortable talking about it.

Peter couldn’t blame him for that, it had to be hard even so many years later to talk about that, being born and raised as a slave to some horrid wealthy group of vampires. 

“Yeah, I did, I couldn’t find a lot, but I did find that you’d been raised a slave. I read a bit about how a war started, by you according to the book I have, what took you so long to go against them anyway?”

Lucian sighed leaning back in his seat, “I wasn’t provoked to harm them. The way that I was brought up by them, by my owner Viktor was to hate werewolves and to hate myself. I spent my childhood actually dreaming and praying to be a vampire like them, thought maybe if I could wake up one day like them that I’d be a real son to him. I know it’s….insane to say the least.” 

“No, it’s not, not really, they were all you knew. Being a kid raised up around vampires, being told that what you are is wrong….I get that.” 

He understood that pain, perhaps not that exact pain, but he understood the pain of being told day after day growing up that what he felt and what he was and what he wanted was wrong. He’d spent so much of his teens and even his early twenties just wanting to be what his family told him he should be.

“It took me quite some time to teach myself that I wasn’t lesser than them, if anything I was, I am stronger than them. It’s why they kept me collared and under lock and key, because I could get them. I did, mostly, the wars lasted a very long time.”

“So, do you still have a pack or something?” 

“Not currently, I’d had a pack hundreds of years ago and had them into the early 2000s, but then I lost them. I laid low for some time, I ended up in LA and I began forming a new pack; I mostly gathered newly changed lycans who had been left to their own devices and needed guidance. Then one night we were ambushed, attacked by vampires, I lost most of them.” 

“I’m sorry to hear about that, that why you’re here?”

Lucian nodded solemnly, “I’ve been tracking the ones who did it, taking them down a few at a time.” 

Peter downed another shot, the information settling in his brain the best that it could. It didn’t matter how long he was exposed to supernatural creatures it was still strange, this was the first time he could talk to somebody who wasn’t human. Typically, non-humans were only interested in turning him or murdering him, but this one was fine with sitting down and chatting with him.

“This is still a bit insane, sorry, I just thought when we met you were human. I’m not saying that I care or mind, I’ve come to terms with you not being a person. So, like, you can turn into a wolf at any time?”

“Yes, I can, I haven’t needed a full moon since I was a teenager. Strong emotions unfortunately can cause changes, half changes like what you saw, or a full change.” 

“So, like when you’re a wolf, are you still you?”

Lucian smiled at that, “I am, I’m more myself when I’m a wolf than when I’m like this honestly.” 

“I’d like to see that sometime if you don’t mind, saw a few sketches of what lycans are supposed to look like, but prefer to see it in person.” 

His smile brightened at that like he hadn’t heard that before from somebody. A part of Peter felt if he saw him fully transformed then it would serve as a great reminder that Lucian wasn’t human, give him a chance to even better adjust to the fact that his friend wasn’t a person like him. 

“I can do that for you, maybe the next time you come out to my place, I can turn, and we can take a walk through the woods.” He suggested, a fondness in his eyes as he looked at Peter.

It was the strangest and oddly most romantic suggestion he’d gotten in his life. “Great, sounds great.” 

Peter ordered two more shots being careful to not get drunk, he did not want to go there. 

“So, you’re from England, right?” Lucian asked.

“Yeah, born there, raised there, got the fuck out of there as soon as I could. I ended up here when I realized nobody gives a fuck what you are or how weird you are.”

“I’ve noticed, I think it’s because they’re all too drunk to notice anything.” Lucian commented as he continued to occasionally watch the people in the bar. “Do you keep in contact with your family?”

“Sort of, my aunt she calls me from time to time, and sometimes I do answer. She worries about me; things didn’t really end too well between me and my uncle before I left England.”

They’d fought a lot, always had; his uncle hadn’t wanted to take Peter in to begin with, but felt he was obligated to or else the rest of the family would think of him as an asshole. He’d gotten fed up early on in terms of Peter talking nonsense about vampires killing his parents, was ready to sign the paperwork to have him committed to a mental institute when he’d been twelve years old. That’s when Peter changed his tune, said he’d been wrong for lying, and he knew that regular people had killed his mom and dad. Not like that ended his troubles with his uncle, his uncle hadn’t wanted him in general, hadn’t wanted to deal with a traumatized child and then on top of that said traumatized child was transgender. It was the perfect storm for screaming matches which on a few occasions ended with punches and being slammed against walls.

“Parents?”

“They um, they died when I was a kid.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

He wanted to kick himself for not telling him the truth, Lucian wasn’t human, he knew about vampires very well. Still it was just habit for Peter to lie about how his parents had died, he always claimed it was burglars and on occasion in America told people that his parents died in a car crash one night. He promised himself he’d tell him some other time.

“It’s fine, long time ago.” He brushed it off.

“If you don’t mind my asking, why don’t you get along with your uncle?” 

“Well he didn’t exactly want to take me in, never had wanted a kid, and well…He um didn’t really like that I’m transgender.” He spoke the word quietly, fingers fidgeting under the table where Lucian couldn’t see. He felt stupid for being nervous about saying it, he’d said it hundreds of times, and sometimes he didn’t say it at all. People here didn’t care, Lucian probably didn’t either, but there was always that fear and that chance that he would care and that this would end.

He watched him, waited for him to show anger or disgust or disinterest, but still Lucian looked at him the same way he’d been looking at him for the past hour. This sort of look that was made mostly of understanding and gentle affection, it was odd to have somebody look at him in such a way. 

“I understand why you wouldn’t want to be around him.” He eventually said, his tone understanding.

“You can say I’m the family disappointment, but joke’s on them because I’m fucking rich.” He said smiling brightly.

None of them would ever see a penny of his money if by chance Peter died before any of his elderly relatives, with the way he lived it wouldn’t be insane for him to die before them. 

“So, you’ve mentioned, you live near here?”

“Yeah, penthouse apartment, real fucking nice. Wanna head there, I can show you around.” Peter offered, sly smile on his face as he eyed the man across from him.

He knew more about Lucian than he did about literally any person he took back to his place, he counted that as a great accomplishment by his own standards. 

“Sure,” 

Peter’s earlier anxieties were gone as they left the bar together, walked through the crowded sidewalk. He thought about how nobody knew he was a real monster hunter who was taking a lycan back to his flat, sometimes it was nice having a life full of secrets that others didn’t know about, told himself occasionally he was like a superhero. Except he didn’t spend all his time brooding about his tragic past, no he found it better to bury the past, it was safer that way. Just like it was safer to go with what he wanted than to think ahead, part of him knew taking Lucian back to his place set him up to fuck this up with sex, but also he’d been wanting to have sex with him ever since they first met. He did hate his wrist still being broken, but he’d worked with worse. He tried to think about the last time he’d had sex, he knew it had been awhile, not too long, but longer than what he was used to. He’d gotten so fixated on vampire hunting and then hung up on seeing Lucian, he really was proud of himself for focusing on something other than getting laid. 

Except now he was back on thinking about getting laid, if this even ended up in sex, he wouldn’t be upset if they didn’t. That was fine if this didn’t go there, but he’d still most definitely think about it. 

He unlocked the door pushing it open, he let Lucian in first then stepped in behind him closing and locking the door. He watched as the lycan walked through the vast apartment looking at the array of objects that Peter had collected and hoarded over the years.

“Some of these are actually valuable.” He commented studying the daggers and stakes locked in glass cases.

“I’ll take that as a compliment, all this cost me out the ass.” 

“Have you used most of these?”

“No, again they cost way too much money to actually use.” Peter responded as he poured himself a drink.

Lucian looked at him like he might be slightly stupid for spending copious amounts of money on objects he purchased online that he never planned on using. He wouldn’t be the first one to look at him like he was stupid for it, definitely not the last. 

“You live here alone?” 

“Yeah, well I used to have a woman who lived here with me, girlfriend sort of, but that was awhile ago.” He said, downed his drink and set the glass on the bar.

It was still difficult to think about or talk about Ginger, he thought about the hundred different ways that night could have played out that could have ended things better. Sure, in several of those scenarios he would have been the one to be killed, but at least then it wouldn’t have been her. 

“What about you, any wolf girlfriend or boyfriend?” Peter asked, he knew the answer was most probably a no.

Lucian lived alone in a small mobile home in the middle of nowhere, that wasn’t the type of setup a guy with a partner had. 

“No, I was with somebody a very long time ago, but nobody since her.” 

There was a sadness radiating off him when he answered the question, Peter made a note to himself to not really bring it up again, but if Lucian ever wanted to talk about it then that would be fine. It hit him again how much of a life Lucian had to have lived, he’d been around to see the repeated rise and fall of humanity, watching the growth and changes of technology. It was a lot to take in, to think about.

“Has to get lonely, doing the whole lone wolf thing.” 

“It can be, we aren’t typically meant to be on our own. I suppose I’m not quite as alone now though.” He commented, smiling softly as he looked at Peter.

That was a positive, sure it was a slightly scary positive, and he wondered if that meant Lucian planned on staying in Nevada a lot longer than originally intended. That was a good thing, unless he completely fucked up whatever it was, they had, which at the moment was just a friendship where Lucian was looking at him like a part of him very much so wanted to touch Peter. 

“Take it that you’re staying here longer then.” He said, voice casually as he moved closer to the lycan.

“I could be convinced to stay.” He replied, smiling as he reached out to just barely brush his fingers against Peter’s hip.

Peter placed a hand against his, fingers stroking against the back of his hand. He swallowed hard when he felt his warm hand on his hip, fingers brushing up just an inch under his t-shirt touching against his skin. Peter leaned down kissing him gently, slowly, good hand coming to rest against the back of his head his fingers tangling in hair that was just as soft and thick as he’d imagined it would be. His heart beat rapidly in his chest when Lucian kissed back, teeth grazing against his bottom lip, Peter moaned when he felt Lucian’s hand push further up under his shirt, his blunt nails scratching down over his skin sending shivers down his spine. 

“Bedroom, should go there, be more comfortable.” Peter whispered against his lips.

He didn’t care what they did just so long as it involved more of Lucian’s hands on his skin, there was something addictive about the intense warmth of his touch, he wanted more of it. Peter took hold of his hand leading him back towards the master bedroom, closing the door behind them. Lucian gently pushed him back up against the closed door kissing him again, this time a more desperate need in the action as his tongue pressed into his mouth. Peter moaned into it, fingers curling in Lucian’s shirt tugging at it, the lycan nipped against his bottom lip before pulling back to remove his shirt dropping it to the floor. Peter could see the faint white scars on his body from where he’d been shot, scars from battles and attacks over hundreds of years that never quite completely healed. Peter removed his own shirt; he placed a hand against Lucian’s cheek pulling him in and kissing him hard. He was pleased to feel those hands on him again, gripping his hips tightly as he was pulled away from the door and guided towards his bed. Lucian lifted him up and laid him down against the bed, climbing up on top of him straddling his lap. He kissed along his jaw, hot wet tongue lavishing against his skin as he kissed down along the side of Peter’s neck. 

“Is this okay?” Lucian whispered against his neck, breath hot against his skin.

Peter gave a short nod, hand moving down to the front of Lucian’s jeans his fingers running along the bulge in his pants. “Very, very okay.” He moaned when he felt sharpened teeth grazing against his neck, he shouldn’t be as turned on by that as he was. 

Lucian trailed kisses along his skin, the way he kissed down his chest, along the scars there was nearly loving, adoring and bordering on worship. Peter pet his fingers through his hair, rolled his hips pressing up against him feeling just how hard he was, how much the lycan very obviously wanted him. 

“Please, I want you.” Peter begged, a nearly pathetic whine to his voice, but he didn’t care. He could feel Lucian smiling against his skin, disappointed when he moved off him.

Peter lifted his hips making it easier for him when Lucian went to unfasten his jeans pulling them as well as his boxers down off him, kicked them to the floor. He scooted further up the bed, legs spreading, knees bent. He chewed his own bottom lip, eyes blown with lust as he stared up at the lycan who still stood there looking at him, his eyes dark with lust. Peter watched him as he unfastened his own jeans, slowly pushing them down over his hips, he groaned at the sight of his thick hard cock, desperate and wet to feel him inside him. Lucian climbed back onto the bed, placed his hands on Peter’s thighs nudging his legs a bit further apart. The hunter moaned as he felt lips pressing against his inner thigh, fangs teasingly nipping against his skin. He curled his fingers against the comforter beneath him, fighting to keep his eyes opened and focused on the gorgeous creature between his legs. His eyes slipped closed when he felt a hot tongue lick against his thigh, moving upwards to where he very desperately wanted to feel his mouth. Another teasing nip to his skin, a finger slowly slipping into him.

Lucian slipped a second finger into him, eyes locked on Peter’s as he slowly thrust his fingers into him. He kissed against his lower stomach; Peter groaned at the feeling of his beard scratching against his skin. He tried to remember the last time somebody had him this turned on and he couldn’t remember, typically sex was just distracting or a way to kill time, this was different. He moaned loudly head pressing back against the pillows when he finally felt his mouth on him, tongue circling his clit. He reached down tangling his fingers in his hair, one leg hooking over his shoulder as he rocked his hips down against his mouth. He felt Lucian’s fingers pressing against his thigh, moaned his name as he felt him sucking against his clit, tongue circling him as he continued thrusting two then three fingers inside him. He was already embarrassingly close to cumming, he thought about how this was better than what he’d imagined it would be like. He felt that familiar tightness in the pit of his stomach, that build up as he approached his release, Lucian continued to work him with his mouth and his hand urging him on. Peter called out his name as he came, thighs trembling as he rode through his orgasm, Lucian’s tongue still working his clit. Peter pet his fingers through his hair gently scratching his scalp, breathless as he relaxed back against the bed. 

Lucian kissed up along his body, he leaned down kissing him deeply, tongue pressing into his mouth. Peter placed a hand against his cheek, fingers loving stroking against his skin as he eagerly kissed him back. He wrapped a leg around his waist, bit against his bottom lip.

“Please,” he whispered against his mouth, eyes hungry and pleading.

The lycan smirked at him, pressed a kiss against his forehead then the bridge of his nose. He felt his fingers brushing against his hip, his touches so sweet it was nearly suffocating. He kissed him again, gentle and slow. Peter moaned into the kiss as he felt his cock slowly easing inside him, he wrapped both legs around his lower back as he thrust back against him. Peter kissed along his jaw, whimpering and moaning as he felt his thick cock filling and stretching him. Lucian kept a firm grip on his hips as he slowly thrust into him, his movements almost teasing with how slow they were. He only sped up when Peter begged him too, begged him to fuck him hard. The hunter cried out in pleasure at the feeling of it, being held down against the bed by strong hands gripping his hips, the way Lucian kissed along his neck biting and sucking against his skin, but never biting hard enough to break the skin. He liked the feeling of rows of sharp teeth against his flesh, the hot wet breath against him, and the way that Lucian moaned as he fucked him.

Peter tangled his fingers in his hair pulling him up and kissing him, he placed a hand against his back feeling long bumps that caught his attention but only for a second, Lucian gently grabbed his wrist pulling his hand away, he pressed a kiss against his palm. Peter told himself to not touch his back again, tried to think to remember to ask him later about it though, right now he busied himself with kissing him, more gently this time. He reached between them stroking his clit, he leaned his head back against the pillows eyes closed as he felt himself reach his second orgasm of the night. He felt Lucian’s fangs against his shoulder, felt him thrusting harder into him, his cock hitting against his g-spot with each rough thrust sending him closer and closer to his own release. He came crying out his name, it felt right, sounded right screaming out the lycan’s name in a moment of pleasure and ecstasy. Lips pressed against the side of his neck, kisses soft and loving, Lucian’s fingers dug against his skin as he came inside him filling him up with his release. He nuzzled against the hunter’s neck, whispered words of adoration against his skin. Peter pet his fingers through his hair careful to not let himself touch along his back. 

Lucian slowly pulled out of him, moved to lay next to him on the bed. Peter rolled onto his side, he leaned up kissing him gently before getting up and heading to the bathroom. As he cleaned himself up, he thought about how this was the first time he’d had sex with somebody and didn’t immediately want to toss them out, he didn’t hate him, or loathe him. If anything, he was happy to return to his bedroom and see Lucian still laying in his bed, he was happy to crawl in with him and rest his head against his chest listening to the soothing beating of his heart. Lucian rested a hand against his hip, pressed a kiss against the top of his head.

“Do you wanna stay the night?” 

“I can if you’d like.”

“Yeah, I think I’d like that a lot actually.” 

He felt safe like he had the last two times he fell asleep with Lucian near him. There was something in it, falling asleep next to a creature that could protect him against the monsters that he always feared were lurking in the corners of his home.


	6. Chapter 6

It was nicer than he’d expected it to be waking up with a warm familiar body in bed. Peter smiled to himself stretching and snuggling closer against Lucian, enjoying the firm warmth of his body and the way he held him closely like in his sleep he was protecting him. Normally if Peter woke to find the person or people, he’d had sex with the night before still in his flat let alone in his bed he wouldn’t be happy. He’d throw cold water on them and scream for them to get the fuck out or find some other jarring rude way to let them know he didn’t want to see them again. He’d been drunk or high most of those times, even the times he’d had sex with strangers while sober or mostly sober in his case he hadn’t wanted them around long. He didn’t want to deal with them, he didn’t want morning small talk, or them asking if he had anything to eat. He just wanted them gone, they’d gotten off, and now it was over. He didn’t feel that way now though, instead he felt a pleasant if not alarming warmth in his chest, a happiness he wasn’t quite accustomed to. It wasn’t like he’d thought that Lucian would leave in the middle of the night or early morning before Peter woke, he didn’t give off the vibe of a person who did that, Hell he didn’t give off the vibe that he did this often. Having sex with people he hardly knew, not that they were complete strangers, they knew more about each other after last night than Peter had known about anybody in a long time. His pervious therapists would have all congratulated him on that, on getting to know somebody, sharing his past with another person without breaking down over it. Despite not going to therapy anymore he at least knew what the bastards would tell him. They’d tell him this was healthy; this was good for him.

He had to agree it was good for him or it at least felt good. Still strange to know the man holding him wasn’t human, that would take awhile to become normal if it ever did become normal. Peter pressed a kiss against his chest, brought his hand up to touch along the medallion he wore around his neck, he’d noticed it a few times, but always forgot to ask about it. He assumed it was just for aesthetic, the same way that Peter wore his gaudy rings and too many chain necklaces. The necklace looked ancient, he thought about how it might be hundreds of years old, just like the man who was in his bed. The one who was now kissing the top of his head, fingers brushing along his back. Peter smiled pulling back to look at him, heart beating faster as he realized for the hundredth time how sexy he was.

“Good morning, glad you stayed.” He greeted him pressing his lips to his.

“Where else would I go?”

“Well normally people leave after I fall asleep or before I fall asleep or if they have the balls to actually stay the night, I throw them out.” 

Lucian smiled, he kissed the bridge of his nose, his fingers brushed up through Peter’s messed hair.

“Do you want to toss me out?”

“God no, I like having you in my bed, I actually worried I’d regret it in the morning.” He confessed, might as well be honest.

Lucian kissed him again, kissed his jaw, pressed a kiss to his throat, Peter hummed at the warmth of his lips, the scratch of his beard against his skin. He smiled when Lucian gently pushed him onto his back settling on top of him. “Do you regret it?” He asked pressing a kiss against his chest, his fingers traced the scars on his chest.

“Not at all, I like it, I like you come to think of it.” 

He smiled against his skin, “I’m glad to hear that you like me, would make this awkward if you didn’t.” He said laughing, breath warm against his skin.

Peter grinned, ran his fingers through long luscious hair, sighed content as those lovely lips brushed against his stomach, Lucian settling between his now spread legs. 

“I mean I have had hate sex before, haven’t lived until you’ve tried that.”

Lucian hummed against his skin, pressed a kiss against his left hip then his right, nipped against his skin. “I’ll keep that in mind, we could try it if we ever get into a fight.” He mused, he stroked his calloused fingers along Peter’s inner thigh, turned his head to kiss against his skin.

“So, you plan on us fighting, what would we even fight over?”

“Well we could fight over your choice of costume for your shows or your shows in general, they are quite gaudy and cliché.” 

Peter opened his mouth to tell him that his shows were brilliant, and it had taken him months to get all the details perfect, but that argument died in his throat when he felt Lucian’s tongue stroke against his clit. His head fell back against the pillows, a soft moan escaping him, another firm lick followed by gentle teasing sucking. “Bastard,” he muttered, fingers tangling in his hair.

Morning head was much better than waking up to some loser from a casino whose name he didn’t even remember, no he remembered Lucian’s name, found himself moaning it again as he rolled his hips pressing against the eager mouth working against him. Fingers pushed into his slick entrance filling him, but nowhere near as good as his cock filled him last night. Peter couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this eager to have sex, to receive head, to give, or anything. Sex was fun, it was distracting, and it passed the time. This wasn’t like that though, no he actually desired this, desired the man making him feel this way. He didn’t feel like over acting when he moaned or begged, didn’t repress his reactions either, he was vocal and eager, writhing and feeling himself edge closer to cumming. He very nearly wished he’d met him a Hell of a lot sooner, he could have been spending his mornings like this for months or even years. 

He was left a panting sweaty mess, lazy smile on his face, Lucian climbed back up his body kissing him slowly. Peter ran his hand down over his bicep, black painted nails scratching against his skin, he bit and sucked against his lower lip. He placed his hand against Lucian’s chest gently pushing him off him, the lycan moved to lay on his back, eyes fixed on Peter. He liked the way he was looking at him, watching him, this intense lust and desire there. It wasn’t just the act of fucking, of getting what one wanted out of this, it was actual desire for Peter, it was something he hadn’t felt before with somebody. Sure that thought was suffocating and way too much for nine in the morning, but he couldn’t help think it. 

Peter kissed down his body, felt like he could spend an entire day kissing and touching every single inch of him. He moaned when he felt nails scratching against his scalp, he could feel the rise and fall of his chest beneath his lips, his skin was slightly warmer than a human’s. He was a beautiful thing, broad and muscular, not overly muscular though, but safe. Peter settled between his legs, wrapped his fingers around the base of his cock, he kept his eyes on his as he flicked his tongue against the head of his cock before taking it into his mouth sucking slowly at first before taking more of his length in. Lucian rocked his hips, carefully thrusting into his mouth, Peter ran his tongue along the underside of his cock, took him in further relaxing his throat as he took him in completely, moaning around him as he swallowed around him. He loved the moans and curses that fell from his partner’s lips, felt himself growing wet again at the sound of his name coming from such a beautiful creature. He closed his eyes, focused on the heavy thick cock in his mouth, bobbing his head, his tongue teasing his tip with each upward motion of his head. He moaned at the tight grip on his hair, loved the edge of roughness born of need. Lucian came calling out his name, the sound a low moan nearing a growl, Peter swallowed what he could, the rest spilling over his lips and down his chin. He slowly pulled off his cock, sat back on his knees, ran his tongue across his bottom lip. Lucian sat up, hand against his back pulling him in and kissing him hard, tongue pressing into his mouth. 

“Thinking about taking a bath, wanna join me?” Peter asked, he kissed along his jaw, smiled as he felt him rubbing his back.

“Sounds good, maybe afterwards I can make you breakfast.”

“I’d like that, pancakes would be great.” He said kissing him again before moving away from him and climbing out of bed.

He could feel him watching him as he exited the bedroom heading into the connected bathroom. He couldn’t help but feel good for the first time in so long as he got the bath ready for them, typically he felt some various emotion that was put on or negative. He acted like a prick to keep himself safe in his little bubble, to make sure people respected him in a superficial way because they feared him firing them. He wasn’t accustomed to feeling happy, he didn’t know what to expect with a guy staying the night, who gave him head the next morning, and now wanted to cook for him. Typically, he’d be panicking, but he wasn’t. He wondered if it helped that Lucian wasn’t human, that they’d both had a bad past when it came to vampires, he was the first person other than Charley that he could talk to about these things. Even when it came to Charley he didn’t feel he could talk to him about this, he didn’t want the kid’s life being dead set centered on the undead, he should enjoy university, get a career, and just live his life. Peter knew that spending your life haunted by monsters and wanting to kill every monster hiding in the shadows didn’t do wonders for the psyche. 

He sighed as he climbed into the expansive tub, the one he bought specifically because it could fit six people, that feature had come in handy on many occasions, especially New Year’s Eve parties. He kept mind to keep his injured wrist out of the water resting it on the edge of the tub, he ducked his head back under the water getting his hair soaked, when he rose back up he saw Lucian entering the room, a fond smile on his face as he watched him. Peter pondered for a moment how long this could last for, whatever it was anyways. He hoped it could last for a few weeks, a few months. Lucian joined him in the tub, moved to rest his back against his chest, Peter pressed a kiss to his shoulder. 

“Is there a reason to have a tub this big?” 

“It comes in handy, besides it’s the biggest they were willing to install.”

Lucian laughed shaking his head, Peter kissed against the side of his neck. 

“I find it…Interesting that you have so much.” He commented, tone light, it was hard to be insulted when somebody commented on how you owned a lot of expensive things. Peter smiled, began running a soaped cloth over his broad chest, kissed his shoulder again.

“I’ve never been fond of minimalism, there’s also the fact I often get very drunk and order things online.” He confessed.

“I will say I’m impressed with all the things you own on monsters; I didn’t expect that when we first met, or when I looked you up online.”

“Glad I could surprise you, y’know you’re not the first one to think I’m not smart or professional.” 

Lucian took hold of his hand bringing it up to press a kiss to the back of it before releasing it again, allowing Peter to get back to his mission of washing him. “I never thought you weren’t smart, just under prepared, even skilled humans die hunting solo.” 

“So, I’ve heard, I’ve hunted with another person before, but he kind of moved away. I wanted to prove I could do it on my own.” 

“You did quite well, mostly, but perhaps we should just hunt together from now on.”

Peter smiled at that, “permanent arrangement, I like that. Hey so about this, is this a thing now?” Peter asked feeling the slightest bit stupid asking. 

It didn’t matter, well normally it didn’t matter to him if this was a permanent setup. If it was a two-time thing them having sex then he was mostly fine with that, he’d miss it though.

Lucian turned to face him, “do you want it to be a thing?”

“Well it was really nice, extremely nice, I just wondered. Wasn’t sure how you felt about it, me, I mean.”

He could kick himself for awkward he was making this.

“I like you, a lot. I haven’t felt a connection with somebody for a very long time, I’d like if we did this sort of thing more often, not just the sex, and yes the sex was incredible.” He agreed smiling. “We could see more of each other, not just to talk about killing vampires.”

Peter smiled relaxing at that, Lucian kissed him gently, stroked his fingers against his jaw and he felt so absolutely certain for the first time in ages. 

“I’d like that,” he whispered against his lips before kissing him again.


	7. Chapter 7

Peter felt a deep annoyance as he downed another shot of whiskey, he glared at his cell phone which sat on the bar top. His people weren’t overly thrilled that he’d broken his wrist when he knew he had shows lined up for the next few weeks, nearly every night, it wasn’t like he’d planned on doing it. They were lucky he hadn’t been killed; lucky it was just a broken wrist that he was working with. He knew that angry drinking wasn’t going to make it better, but it felt like it did, at least it numbed his emotions just a bit. He glared down at his wrist, it still ached, but only a dull ache. He needed a break from hunting and thinking about his feelings, his show had always been that for him; sure, it was filled with sexy women and him fake killing monsters, but it was pretend which made it safe. He got to be somebody else and that was always nice for him, he always liked being people who weren’t himself.

An idea struck him after he downed his fifth shot, he picked up his phone pulling up Lucian’s number, it only took three rings before he answered.

“Peter?”

“Hey so you know the other night at your place when you got shot?”

“I definitely do recall that, hard to forget.”

“Right, that blue stuff you had me give you, what was that?”

“An elixir I made; it works for quick healing.”

Peter smiled; he was brilliant when he wanted to be. “Fucking fantastic, now does that work on people too?”

“I’m not sure, I haven’t tried it on a human before, why?”

“Well my manager is let’s say less than thrilled that I went and broke my wrist. Think you could pop by my place with a vial of that shit, see if it works so I can get back to my not hunting job?”

There was a momentary pause on the other end that left him worried that he’d say no.

“Sure, but I’m not positive it will work.”

“Great, see you soon.” Peter said ending the call, he sat his phone back down, poured himself another drink this time less angry with the world.

He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought of it earlier, but then again he’d been busy with tracking vampire nests and thinking about having sex with Lucian and then finally getting to have sex with Lucian, which that was something they’d been doing a lot of. They talked, talked about hunting, about breeds of vampires, and they talked about other things too. When they weren’t doing that then they were having sex, Peter was good with that, very good with it. He’d found himself not even chasing after one-night stands with random people from the bars and the casinos, often just telling them he didn’t have the time for them when they approached him. He used to rarely turn down sex with strangers when the offer showed itself to him, now it just felt weird. He didn’t like to think this was becoming a relationship, but he couldn’t help but think of it that way, he felt himself liking him a lot more than he had before. He thought it was just hormones, but it was more than that. If it was just the sex factor then he wouldn’t find himself chasing after spending so much time with him, wouldn’t find himself going to his home just to hang out or spend the night with him. Even right now he felt better knowing that Lucian was on his way to his place, hoped he could talk him into spending the night with him or maybe a couple of nights if he didn’t have much else going on.

It was weird feeling this way about somebody, having another person in his flat for the first time in a while. He still had that pit in his stomach where he feared it would go wrong or that Lucian would break some terrible news to him like he had to leave the state or even the country, he hated the thought of not seeing him anymore. Not that Lucian showed any signs of leaving, he seemed more than content to stick around. 

His phone began ringing again, he picked it up wondering if it was his manager calling to rip his ass again. 

“Ah fuck,” he muttered as he saw his aunt’s name on the caller ID.

Against gut better judgement he answered, forcing a tight-lipped smile as he held the phone to his ear. “Hey auntie,” he greeted, voice as warm as he could muster it to be.

“Peter I just thought I would check in on you, it’s been awhile since I’ve heard from you, and I haven’t heard anything about you in the tabloids.”

“Yeah well I’ve been busy and staying out of trouble, so nothing to read about there.”

He hated how every time he did something gross or stupid and it got into the tabloids that one of his cousins would immediately run to his aunt to tell her, it nearly made him want to fly back to England just to punch them in the throat.

“That’s good, have you been doing alright?”

“Fine, I’ve been….I’ve been good lately actually.”

Way better than he’d been doing as a teenager, better than he’d been doing when living in England. He felt very nearly happy now.

Knocking on the door startled him, he went to it unlocking and opening the door. Lucian stood on the other side, small paper bag in hand. “I brought it.”

“Peter is somebody there?”

“Huh, oh yeah just um, friend of mine.” He said as he motioned Lucian inside closing and locking the door behind him.

Lucian watched him curiously as he went to the glass dining table setting down the bag and taking a seat in one of the black metal chairs. Peter sat down next to him.

“Oh really, it’s not one of your Vegas friends is it?”

“No, not one of them, promise he isn’t a bad influence on me.” He assured her, exhaustion and a headache coming over him as he wondered how long this phone call would carry on for.

Lucian was still looking at him, Peter found he didn’t hate that as much as he usually would.

“Good, I never like those people that you hang around, they aren’t good for your health.”

“Yeah, look I have a lot going on right now, but I swear I will call you tomorrow evening.”

He probably wouldn’t.

“Okay, well just keep safe, I love you, goodbye.”

“Yeah, bye.” He ended the call sitting his phone down.

“Who was that?”

“My aunt, she’s under the impression that I’m still a depressed teenager.”

Sure, he was still depressed, not as often as he used to be, but it still lingered there in his mind. Some days he just woke up wishing he could do nothing but lay in his bed for days or months, thought about running off into the woods and never returning to civilization. He hadn’t cut himself or considered suicide for a while, well a short while, but still.

“It’s not important, so how long will this stuff take to fix this?” He asked as he flexed the fingers of his injured arm. He opened the bag pulling out a small glass bottle, a dark blue liquid swishing around inside it.

“I’m unsure, for me it takes a minute at the longest, but perhaps longer for you. Humans aren’t exactly equipped for fast healing.”

Peter uncapped the bottle and downed the contents, the liquid was thicker than he thought it would be, it tasted heavily of chemicals. Still not the worst thing he’d consumed in his lifetime. He sat waiting, staring down at his wrists, fingers tapping anxiously against the glass tabletop. There was a silence in the room as he waited to feel something, within five minutes he felt a shifting under his skin, not horribly painful but highly uncomfortable. He winced at the feeling, fingers curling against his palm as he felt it continue, the feeling of his bones repairing, his body readjusting itself. Within another five minutes the dull ache he’d been feeling ceased to exist. He smiled as he realized it had worked, he leaned forward kissing Lucian.

“Thank you, now just gotta find a doctor to remove this fucking thing and we’re good to go. I should have thought of asking you about this sooner but didn’t exactly think of it with the whole hunting thing going on.” He rambled on excitedly. “How long have you been making stuff like this?”

“For a while, I used to know somebody who made medicines and elixirs for me, for projects I was working on, I’ve spent the past few years trying to learn to do it on my own without assistance. It all comes in handy when I get shot, which happens surprisingly often.”

“I’m glad you don’t die when you get shot, I was scared that you were going to, before I found out that you’re not exactly human.” He admitted.

He’d thought about it more after the moment had passed. When it had all been happening, he’d been so hyped up on adrenaline and surviving the night that he hadn’t thought much about it, had just known he wasn’t going to let the bastards come near him again. It had scared him thinking about it later, made it easier for him to deal with the fact that Lucian wasn’t human, that his body allowed him to heal in a way that a human’s didn’t, and knowing he had elixirs to speed that process up the more made him feel better. 

“I still feel terrible that you found out that way about me, but you would learn sooner than later. I’m glad that you still want to see me.”

“Course I do, I was wondering maybe after you take me to the hospital because I’ve had a few too many drinks to be driving anywhere today, we could go back to your place. I still haven’t seen you full wolf mode, super curious about it.” 

Lucian smiled, “I’d like that, I don’t think a human has ever wanted to see me that way.”

Peter shrugged, he got up from his seat. “I have seen so much shit through my life, I know that you won’t hurt me, and I want to just know so that way it won’t be a big surprise in case you ever turn around me when we’re hunting.” He explained and that was the truth for the most part.

He wanted to be prepared, he knew there was always a chance that Lucian would change while they were fighting, he was certain that being a hulking wolf made winning battles a Hell of a lot easier than being man shaped. He didn’t want to be shocked or so caught off guard by it that he ended up putting himself at risk, this way he’d know what he looked like when he was wolf shaped, wouldn’t be caught off guard by that. 

“I understand, it’s been awhile since I’ve changed so it’ll be nice to do it again.” He said as they made their way out of Peter’s apartment.

Peter found himself taking hold of his hand as he led him towards the lift, three people already inside who were completely indifferent to the two men who entered pressing for the first floor. Their conversation died down as they waited, Peter watching the red number change as they passed each floor, stopping on the third floor to let off two of the men, then the second floor to let off the third before finally reaching their destination. Peter was still holding his hand as they exited the building walking out into the grossly hot Nevada air. There was something about the state when it was spring and summer and even fall time that was suffocating. He remembered how much he hated the weather in Nevada when he’d first moved here, he’d stayed in his small apartment he’d been renting at the time for weeks on end, the window air conditioner doing barely anything to keep him from dying of heat exhaustion. Lucian seemed less bothered by the heat, like he didn’t even notice it. Peter handed him his car keys before getting into the passenger side, when the car was started up, he turned up the air conditioning sighing content as he felt the cold air blow against him.

“Fucking hate the heat out here, this state is like the depths of Hell or something.”

“Why didn’t you move some place cooler?” Lucian asked as he pulled out onto the street.

“The states that aren’t a giant oven are the ones that don’t have as much going on, well I mean I could have gone to New York, but like my ideas wouldn’t have worked out there.” He explained as he watched the buildings pass them by. 

“Could have done stage plays or become a musician.”

Peter laughed, “right, I got fucking bored of guitar after a month, got bored of bass after a week, and I tried drama club when I was in school but that sucked. I prefer what I do, I get to make all the rules, my manager doesn’t give me too much shit since I always rake in the cash.”

“Do you think you’d ever leave here?”

“Not sure, I just sort of settled in here y’know, never thought much about it. I guess I could, sometimes think about California, they definitely don’t give a fuck what you do there.” He mused mostly to himself, he could still do his work out there, maybe switch things up a bit, bigger crowd.

There was a silence between them that Peter would describe as mostly comfortable, he didn’t feel too awkward when they weren’t talking to each other. Typically, he’d hate this silence that hung in the air, he’d feel the urge to fill it with meaningless words, but it was fine this time. They didn’t speak again until Lucian pulled into the parking lot outside of the hospital.

“Do you want me to go in with you?”

“Nah, I shouldn’t be long anyway. I’ll go in, lie and said I’ve had this damned thing on for too long, forgot to get it removed, and I’ll be out in a few minutes.” He leaned over the console pressing a kiss against his cheek. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.” He told him before climbing out of the car.

It of course took longer than he’d wanted it to. They’d asked him why he didn’t see his doctor about cast removal, asked how exactly one forgets to get a cast removed, but to get him out they’d removed it. They were used to seeing him in the hospital here; he often was rushed into their ER after over dosing on cocaine and a couple of times on heroin back when he first moved to Vegas, then the times he’d fallen out of second floor windows and broken bones, or when he’d get into a fight with somebody twice his size. They were used to Peter Vincent finding his way into their hospital one way or another, every now and again a doctor would gently yet firmly recommend rehab, give him that fatherly speech about how he needed to worry about his health, and might need help. He never paid attention, just had them pump his stomach of pills, or whatever else they needed to do then he’d go on his way to repeat his mistakes or cry in the shower. Depended on the day. At least this time he was only a little drunk, he wasn’t a danger to himself, and he received no concerned talks about his self-harming habits.

Nice change of pace for him, felt like a damned weight lifted off him getting rid of that cast. He couldn’t stop flexing his fingers, turning his wrist noticing the way it didn’t hurt in the slightest as he made his way back to the car. Lucian was waiting for him, phone in hand, looking almost bored, he shoved his phone back into his pocket when Peter got back into the car.

“Everything go okay?”

“Fine, they see me all the time. Still insane how that elixir of yours worked so well on me, feels better than it did before I broke it.” He commented as he ran his fingers over his wrist.

“I’m glad, I’m also glad to know we can use that in the off chance that you get injured again when we’re on a job.”

Peter hoped he could refrain from serious injuries in the future, he needed to refrain from being injured since he had his main job to worry about. They could cover cuts and bruises up with little to no issue, but broken bones were an issue. 

“Hoping to not break anymore bones, I should be okay since I’m not solo anymore.” He really was safer this way, he trusted that Lucian wouldn’t let anybody hurt him. “Hey, do you think I could crash at your place tonight?”

“Sure, I don’t mind that at all.”

Peter smiled, relieved. He didn’t know why he thought he’d say no to that, Lucian never really turned him away on those types of offers. “Cool, just thought it would be nice staying at yours.”

“You’re welcome to come by whenever you like, I’m there most of the time.” 

“Cool, yeah that, that would be cool. Just don’t want to intrude y’know.”

Lucian smiled over at him, “you’re never intruding, I enjoy your company Peter.” 

He smiled at that, felt a warmth in his chest. Somebody wanting him around was a lovely feeling, it scared him to let himself get comfortable with that, with this happiness, but he couldn’t help sinking into it. He even was growing familiar with the small home that Lucian stayed in, felt like he was returning to his second home as they pulled up into the gravel driveway. 

Peter got out of the car stretching his arms above his head groaning, he looked up at the sky noticing as the colors of it were shifting, soon it would be dark, and then they’d be walking through the woods together. A man and a wolf, he smiled thinking about that as he followed Lucian into his house. He went to the small fridge grabbing out a bottle of beer and heading over to the couch flopping down onto it, took a sip from his drink. He watched as Lucian tried his best to organize things, taking piles of old books and setting them on what little counter space was available to him in the kitchen, giving up on organizing when he realized he owned too many things. He seated himself next to Peter on the couch, very little space kept between them. Peter rest his head against his shoulder, smiled when he felt Lucian wrap an arm around his shoulders.

“I’m very grateful that I met you.” Lucian said after a moment of silence.

“Me too, was a bit miserable before I met you, like I still feel miserable, but it’s not as intense.” He attempted to explain, wondered how well that even came across. 

“I feel like I’m getting a second chance at some things, I’m not quite sure I deserve it, but I’m happy.” 

Peter pressed a kiss to the side of his neck, nuzzled against him. “You deserve it, sure you’ve done things, everybody’s fucked up.”

He’d learned more in the time they spent together, not everything; he knew there were vital pieces missing. He knew that there’d been a time in history when he’d faked his own death, returned years later to kill his old master, and to try and end the blood wars between lycans and vampires. He knew he’d done questionable things, hurt people, had gone down a super intensely dark path. He’d been vague about his reasoning for why it had been so important to him, but Peter hadn’t pressed for more detail, only what he wanted to share. 

“I feel as if I’m still working towards something, but I don’t know what anymore. Viktor has been dead for so long, factions have either died or disbanded, but I still chase battles. I’ve spent years now hunting groups of vampires, trying my hardest to protect what lycans I can find throughout this country, but I don’t know to what end.” 

“Do you think there are vampires out there who aren’t y’know like…Intensely murder happy?” Peter asked, wondering if that were even possible.

Then again, all books and websites claimed that werewolves and lycans were murderous, he knew that was very much not true. 

“There are, I’ve known some, but it’s rare to come across those who are willing to admit flaw and listen to reason. I used to hope so long ago that there was a hope of that being different, I don’t know if it’ll change.”

Peter thought about the vampires he’d heard talking about wiping out the lycans in the area, he’d just thought they wanted rid of competition for humans to feed on, but he knew it was more than that. He wondered if most of them even knew why they were fighting, if it was so deeply ingrained into their beings that it was a second nature for them whether they wanted it to be or not. 

“It could, there could be a group of vampires who are good, none I’ve met, but like it could be possible. I’m sure there’s wolves out there who are vicious as Hell, yet you are quite different than anything I read up on, and yeah I know you’ve had some dark shit happen, but you’re here now.” 

Lucian smiled kindly at him, turned to face him, he placed a hand against his cheek his fingers caressing his skin. Peter leaned into his touch, loved his warmth, how loving he was. “It’s dark now, good time for us to go out.” He said, voice soft, he kissed him once before getting up from the couch.

Peter finished off his beer before getting up and following him outside. It wasn’t quite as hot as it had been before, but still wasn’t great. He followed Lucian to the tree line and into it, it was weird being in the woods. There was always something to it that made him feel like anything could attack him, the trees could go fully Evil Dead on him, he was not a big nature fan. Though watching Lucian shed his clothes could very well change his stance on nature. He couldn’t help but stare, Lucian smirked when he noticed his staring. 

“I get it if you don’t want to watch when it happens, it isn’t very pleasant.” 

“I wanna see the whole thing, curious actually.” He admitted as he leaned back against a tree, arms folded over his chest.

Lucian nodded; his expression more solemn now as he focused on himself. Peter watched, he had a hard to really processing everything that he saw and heard. Flesh stretched and tore, fur shoving up from underneath, thick and black with a few streaks of gray, he could hear bones cracking as they shifted and grew into shapes and places that were not meant for a human body. The process only took two minutes, if that long, before he realized it there was now a very large wolf standing on two legs. The wolf was massive, muscular and much taller than Peter was; two shining ink black eyes stared down at him, a short muzzle, pointed ears that twitched. Fur mostly covered his body, but there were patches of bare black thick hyd. Peter did admittedly feel just the slightest bit scared, it was hard to feel comfortable when staring up at something that was seven inches taller than him and had clawed paw like hands that were as big as his face. Lucian noticed his unease, a low whine emitting from him as he lowered himself onto all fours, now he was only chest height as he slowly approached him, head lowered. He pressed his head against Peter’s hand, another soft whine. 

Peter smiled, muscles untensing as he placed his hand against the top of the wolf’s head, ran his fingers through the thick black fur there, couldn’t help but brush his fingers against his ears laughing at the way his ears twitched in response. Still very weird, but less frightening; Lucian wouldn’t hurt him, if the wolf wanted to hurt him then he would have already.

“Sorry, I promise I’m not really scared, just you’re pretty fucking massive.” 

The wolf made another sound like a growl, but not quite, he took a step back, eyes focused on Peter, he jerked his head to the side before turning and walking away. Peter got the hint and followed after him, walked by his side, placed a hand against his back between his shoulders where he felt the muscles moving beneath thick fur and thick skin. Lucian kept close to him, occasionally he’d nuzzle against Peter’s side. It was like having a pet who also was his kind of boyfriend, maybe his boyfriend, was he his boyfriend?

“You can’t talk like this, right?”

Another small growl, that made sense.

“Cool, you can understand me, right?”

A short nod.

“Right, so I’ll talk and like you react however you want I guess.” 

It felt odd to not talk, it did feel odd feeling more comfortable talking about some things knowing that Lucian couldn’t properly respond.

“So, I do like being with you, and I kind of…We could be a thing, like dating y’know? Exclusive is what I guess I’m trying to say right now, be your boyfriend, as lame as that sounds.” He felt stupid.

Lucian didn’t respond, Peter felt his eyes were on him though, but they were so encompassed in darkness it was impossible to tell.

“I also feel like since you can’t really say much right now that I should tell you some other things. You know how I told you my parents died, well I didn’t tell you everything, because I’m not used to it. I’ve spent most of my life lying to people about the way it happened.” He began, nervousness taking him over as he pet his fingers through the wolf’s fur. “When I was little, one night this guy came to our door and said his car had broken down nearby, asked to use our phone. My dad, being way too nice invited him in to let him use ours. The guy turned out was a vampire, he killed my dad right there in the living room, I ran to my bedroom and hid in the wardrobe. I could hear everything through the wall, heard my mom’s screaming, and the crashes from her struggling.” He paused in his talking, tears rolling down his cheeks, he let out a shuddering breath, Lucian nudged the palm of his hand, Peter resumed petting him. “I told the cops what I saw and heard, told the therapist, told my aunt and uncle. I told them the truth until one day my therapist suggested I be put away, then I lied and said it had been burglars. Only other person who knows about this is Charley, the kid I told you about.” 

It felt good to tell somebody about it, maybe not good good, but it was off his chest. He rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand, angry at himself for crying. They stopped walking after a while, Peter seated himself on the ground leaning his back against a tree, Lucian curled up next to him resting his head and his front paws on Peter’s lap. He smiled as he pet him, looked at the massive paws and focused on the hefty weight of the wolf acting as a lap dog right now.

“Being with you is the safest I’ve ever felt, I never felt safe after that happened, but it’s like with you even before I found out you’re a lycan….I’ve felt safe.” He confessed, he felt nearly tired after sharing so much.

Lucian as expected didn’t respond though his tail gave a bit of a wag, Peter found that strangely cute. Sure, he was a large slightly off looking wolf thing, but he was rather handsome this way. He felt comfortable there in the woods with Lucian laid across his lap, safe as he always did with him.


	8. Chapter 8

As much as Peter did love spending his nights either hunting gatherings of vampires in nearby towns or hanging out with Lucian, he had missed doing his shows during that short break. Nobody had noticed it when he’d come in with two arms, both working just fine, his manager had only rolled his eyes and sighed as if he were a man on the break of retiring early. Peter lied a lot, if he didn’t want to do something then he’d make up some bull shit excuse so that he could get out of it, the people he worked with and the ones who worked for him knew all that. Still he had wanted to do his shows this time around, had missed sitting in a makeup chair while the latest makeup artist they hired applied his eye makeup, tattoos, and fake hair, smiled as he looked at a reflection that showed him a man he hardly recognized. He had asked Lucian if he wanted to come see his show, he’d grunted and continued to read the book he’d been deeply invested in that morning, and then eventually very nearly scoffed at the idea of seeing a show that involved Peter fake slaying sexy vampire ladies with offensive fake Romanian accents. He also claimed he had other matters to attend to, stray struggling packs to check in on and help out how he could, and he was still tracking vampires who may have come from the L.A. area.

Peter had to say that his determination was incredible, he gathered that from the stories he told him about century long wars. It all made Peter feel the slightest bit inadequate, he didn’t take vampire hunting seriously, not entirely. He’d gotten better about it, but he still fucked up and got too cocky about it, about his abilities. He also fell into fits where all he wanted to do was live his old normal life and not think at all about the undead and how they were crawling all over the place slaughtering innocent humans’ night in and night out. While Lucian on the other hand spent his time always aware of that, never blackout drunk and ignoring the cruelty taking place. Peter could work on himself, drink less, stop doing drugs completely, and devote his time to training. The longer he thought about that the more exhausted he became, even by the end of his own show all he wanted to do was get blackout drunk, a small part of him also considered grabbing a few strangers from the lobby and taking them back to his flat for a night of drunken debauchery until he reminded himself he wasn’t doing that anymore. He wasn’t allowing himself to, he liked Lucian, a lot. It admittedly was difficult to remember that when a girl in the lobby wearing a Slayer t-shirt that was cut up to beneath her breasts was eyeing him in the lobby like she was planning out all the lovely sexual things she wanted to do to him. He shook his head, looked away from her, and hurried outside.

He still wore his eye makeup; he liked the eye makeup just on the regular. Well not always, there were moments and days or even months where he would look at himself in the mirror with makeup on and just have a panic attack. Despite all the work put into his physical appearance it still could take very little for him to become scared that when people looked at him they saw a woman, he thought about his teenage youth and how he constantly screamed in his own head that he wasn’t a girl. Forced smiles every time somebody would call him ma’am, when girls at school who tried to show him kindness at first would call him ‘her’. They hadn’t known, his hair had been long, even when he’d lobbed most of it off it didn’t make a difference, because there were lots of girls and women who had very short hair. That was then, he needed to remind himself of that, if he grabbed some random jackass right now and asked if he was a guy they would look at him like he was insane and say ‘yes’. He knew that.

He pulled his pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his ripped jeans, stuck one between his lips, lighting it and drawing in a deep breath filled with bitter smoke. He began walking down the crowded sidewalk, taking quick glances at the people who passed him by, who shoved him roughly in their drunken states. Most of them were drunk or high, like he planned on being in a bit. He read the signs of the buildings he passed, thought in his mind about which ones were better, which were too loud, or too dark. He finally settled on a dive bar called Atomic’s. Inside the building was spacious, tables spread through the main floor, booths sat against the far walls of the bar where people could eat and drink. He made his way up to the bar where many of the patrons were hanging out, drinking, talking too loudly, and laughing at shit that was hardly funny. He ordered himself a cocktail and began scanning the room, a habit he’d had for most his life. There were a lot of men in their older ages, most straight, not remotely attractive. He did see women, some not in his preferred age range of twenty-three to forty, too young or far too old. There were attractive people, a guy probably a few years younger than him with slicked back black hair and a white button down who caught his eye, smiled before turning his attention back to the girl with the teased blond hair he was chatting up. 

Peter focused on drinking, pulled his phone out of his pocket as he sipped at his cocktail, remembered who he was and downed it. He ordered another after that. He pulled up the last text he’d sent to Lucian, wondered what to message him, thought of asking him to come down to the bar so they could hang out.

Peter: Hey, what r u up to?

He kept his phone out for a couple minutes, when no reply came, he shoved it back into his pocket, focus back on drinking. It vibrated in his pocket, he pulled it out again.

Lucian: Just got back from a run, you?

Peter: Finished my show, went great by the way, know u won’t ask me. At a bar called Atomic’s right now, u wanna come meet me?

For whatever reason he worried he wouldn’t want to come meet him, it was a foolish thing to think, and even if Lucian didn’t want to meet up that didn’t mean anything. It just meant that he wasn’t fond of hanging out in bars, which he really wasn’t all that fond of, he claimed he didn’t like crowded spaces because of very deeply ingrained paranoia from a time when he’d needed to be on his toes at all times.

Lucian: Sure, I’ll see you soon.

Peter smiled to himself as he put his phone away. Well at least now getting laid was an option on the table again, he realized they did have sex quite frequently. He’d actually had to go see his gynecologist for the first time in a while about birth control, she’d told him once again that he should have kept on it, but mostly he’d been having sex with cis women, there hadn’t been much need for him being on birth control. Still he was back on it, condoms were always an option, but Peter didn’t carry them on him when he was on hunting jobs, if they decided to shag in the woods then he definitely wasn’t thinking about that, and even at his own flat he was more focused on feeling Lucian inside him than safety. He wasn’t entirely sure he was the type who could have a kid, especially a kid that wouldn’t be human, right? His mind went to that, wondered if the kid could be human or if the kid would just be another lycan, that was a crazy thought. He ordered another drink before those thoughts could continue.

He’d resumed people watching for a bit while he waited for Lucian, when that became dull for him he texted Charley who informed him he was doing great with his courses and that he was sorry for not keeping in touch that much lately. Peter let him know a little bit about Lucian, mostly that they hunted together frequently, and that he knew a lot about vampires. He wasn’t stupid enough to text him or tell him period that Lucian wasn’t a human and he knew Charley didn’t want to hear about his sex life. By the time Charley went off for a date with Amy Lucian had shown up.

“Hey,” Peter greeted, he stepped away from the bar and hugged him tightly. 

Lucian kissed the side of his head, “hello, by the way I am glad your show went well.” He said as they parted.

Peter ordered beers for them as they seated themselves at the bar. “Good to know, you should still come to see me sometime, I look fucking sexy in those leather pants.” 

Lucian smiled, “I know you look good with the eye makeup right now.” He complimented as he took a sip from his beer.

“All part of my aesthetic, so think you might want to crash at my place tonight?”

“I can, I like staying at yours, I always feel weird about the whole idea of leaving after.” 

Peter laughed, “yeah, I do like it better when you stay with me. It’s nice, you’ve got a very nice face to wake up to.” Probably one of the dumbest things he’d said to a guy, but Lucian never seemed to care or maybe he just didn’t notice.

Either way he smiled at him, he had a nice smile, he always looked more like the man in his twenties who stopped aging like Dorian Gray. Peter sometimes wanted to ask what possibly determined supernatural beings who were born the typical human way to stop aging at a certain point; he’d been surprised to find that vampires, certain strains could be born like humans were. It was weird trying to imagine that, realizing that technically meant there were types of vampires who weren’t corpses filled with evil, but instead beating hearts and functioning organs like a regular human. The idea of a vampire family with two parents and some kids they created through reproduction was strange, wondered if they went to PTA meetings, kids played sports, and all that other shit while also feeding on their neighbors from time to time. He hadn’t asked any of that, had just continued smoking his joint and thinking about how insane literally all of that was.

They chatted mostly about vampires; it was a safe topic for them. They would stray into topics about Peter, he’d tell him about what he was like as a teenager, the one time he’d set a dumpster on fire, he did admit just a bit about the drugs he’d done when he was a teenager, but never going dangerously far into it. Not that Lucian was judging him, he just listened, never having any stories of his own because his youth had been terrible and different compared to Peter’s. He felt bad when he thought about it, sometimes felt guilty about his own teen angst, because he’d still had a home and a family of sorts while Lucian had been collared and kept locked away like an unwanted pet. After a few more drinks they left the bar, mostly because it was becoming crowded to the point that even Peter was starting to get annoyed with it, that and some chick with a bob cut had started coming onto Lucian.

“What even makes her think you’re interested?” Peter asked as they exited the building back into the lukewarm Nevada night.

“I suppose she thought we were just friends.” He responded seeming more amused by this than Peter, he wrapped an arm around his waist.

“Fuck her, like grabbing your arm and pressing against you like that, like I wasn’t even there.”

Lucian kissed the side of his head, called a cab for them, managed to get Peter inside then climbed in next to him. Peter stopped being mad long enough to tell the driver were to take them. He turned in his seat to face Lucian to make his ranting more effective.

“Seriously like I’m obviously with you, can’t just assume two guys at a bar aren’t dating.”

“I didn’t think you were the jealous type.” He commented interrupting Peter’s ranting.

Truthfully, he hadn’t thought himself as jealous either, Ginger had brought people back to their flat all the time and he’d never cared except for that one time a guy she’d brought home had tried to steal some of his shit.

“I’m not, I’m just upset on your behalf.”

Lucian laughed, “sure, of course, by the way you’re rather cute when you’re jealous. It works, I kind of hate the way people look at you.” He admitted, voice light and fond as it often was.

Peter felt more at ease, wondered if jealousy was something, they could work into their sex life. He grabbed the front of his shirt pulling him closer and kissing him deeply, tongue pressing into his mouth, Lucian placed a hand on his thigh, fingers pressing against the denim of his jeans. If it wasn’t for the driver who occasionally glanced at them in the mirror he would have climbed onto his lap, but when the driver hit the brakes just a bit harder than necessary at the next red light Peter got the hint he wasn’t going to put up with two horny people getting it on in his cab. Peter broke away, smiling, pressed a final kiss against his boyfriend’s jaw before pulling back. Lucian’s hand stayed on his thigh, which was quite nice. 

When the cab pulled up along the curbside Peter paid then got out, Lucian joined him taking hold of his hand as his eager partner dragged him into the building. The second they made it into the lift Peter had him pushed up against the wall of it, knee pressed between his parted legs, hands sliding up his shirt and lips pressing against his neck. Lucian tangled his fingers in his hair pulling hard enough to get his attention, he kissed him hard, hand finding Peter’s hip then his ass as he pulled him closer against himself. The lift came to a stop, doors slid open, Lucian moved his hand from Peter’s ass to his chest to gently push him back as an elderly couple entered. The couple looked less than pleased with what they’d walked in on, the old man with his small green eyes and receding hairline kept glaring at them as if his silent anger was going to make them any less likely to fuck once they got to their flat. Lucian held Peter close to his side, he didn’t look at the man, but there was no way he didn’t notice him. Peter rested his head on his shoulder, it was a relief when the lift stopped again, and the old couple exited.

“Well that was annoying,” Peter announced as he resumed his previous position of pinning a gorgeous lycan against the wall.

“He seemed rather pissed, I’m not sure if it’s because of us being men or because we were making out in front of him.” Lucian commented as Peter kissed along his neck, hands rucking up his t-shirt.

“Probably both, not my fault his life sucks.” Peter commented, voice muffled, he bit against Lucian’s neck sucking against pale skin earning a lovely deep moan from his partner.

The next time the lift came to a stop it was on their floor, Peter practically dragged him out of it and to his flat, it took him a minute to get the door unlocked. There was a relief in being back in the privacy of his home, nobody to walk in on him when he was fondling his boyfriend, or to hit on his boyfriend in front of him. Peter went to the bar grabbing out a bottle of whiskey and a shot glass, he poured himself a shot downing it, Lucian stepped up behind him, hands on his hips pulling his ass back against his crotch, he nuzzled against the side of Peter’s neck, sharpened teeth grazing against his skin sending chills through him. Peter smirked, reached back petting his fingers through long hair. Lucian bit against his neck, never too hard thankfully, but the pressure was delicious. Peter groaned, eyes slipping closed as he felt how hard his partner was, felt one hand slide down his front, fingers quick to unfasten his jeans slipping inside under the waistband of his boxer briefs. Peter parted his legs, let out a small moan as he felt calloused fingers slowly teasingly slip between the lips of his pussy, thumb circling his clit in teasing motions. Peter rocked against his hand, wanted more from him, moaned desperately as he felt Lucian sucking against his earlobe before running the tip of his tongue along the shell of it. 

“Fuck, please, fuck, fuck me.” Peter managed out his voice already hoarse.

Lucian slipped two fingers inside him, “you feel so good, do you want me to fuck you here?”

He nodded in response, rocked against his hand needing more. He groaned in frustrated disappointment when Lucian pulled his hand away, gripped his hips and turned him to face him again, he kissed him passionately his tongue pressing into his mouth as he pushed Peter’s jeans and underwear down over his hips. With some effort Peter kicked off his jeans, reached out to unfasten Lucian’s pants with hands that were less than steady, but managed. He bit and sucked against the lycan’s lip; his fingers grazed along the underside of his hard cock. Lucian kissed along his jaw, he gripped Peter’s thighs firmly as he lifted him up, the hunter wrapped his legs around his waist, looped his arms around his neck. They resumed their heated kissing as Lucian slowly thrust his cock inside him. Peter moaned into the kiss, buried his fingers in his hair tugging as he felt his cock slowly entering him, thrust back against him driving him deeper inside. Lucian nipped his bottom lip as he thrust into him, his fingers pressed hard into the flesh of his thighs, he laid the hunter down on the bar top, body pressed against his as he thrust into him harder. Peter’s moans were loud, echoing in the large space of his flat, back arched when Lucian thrust in hard and deep, his cock pressing against his g-spot. His heels dug into his back, nails biting into his still clothed shoulders as he rocked back against him. Lucian pushed his shirt up to his chest, kissed and licked along all exposed skin that his mouth could reach. Peter’s back arched, the words he moaned incoherent as he felt himself growing closer to his own release, Lucian reached down, thumb circling his clit, rubbing and pressing against him. Peter tugged his hair pulling him up into another kiss, soon he was cumming around him, thighs trembling and his moans loud and keening. Lucian kissed along his neck, nuzzled against his skin as he continued to pound into him, his grip on his thighs tightening as he reached his own climax, Peter softly moaned as he felt his release spilling inside him, his thrusts gentler, slower before finally coming to a stop. 

He pet his fingers through Lucian’s hair, worked on catching his breath, felt a gentle kiss against his chest. After a moment his boyfriend pulled away from him, Peter lowered himself back to the floor, removed his t-shirt tossing it to the growing pile of jeans and shirts on the floor.

“So that’s like the second time we couldn’t make it to the bed.” Peter said smirking.

Lucian laughed, “nice change, bit nicer than your dining table.” He said kissing him gently, he took hold of Peter’s hand leading him back towards the bedroom then into the master bathroom.

He got the shower ready while Peter removed his severely smudged eyeshadow and liner, by the time he was done washing his face Lucian was standing next to him watching him, eyeing the eight different face washes on the counter that cost more than they were probably worth. He’d had bad acne as a teenager, then it was worse when he’d first started hormone therapy, the changes in his body essentially offsetting second puberty as it was called. Had been an utter nightmare, he’d been glad when it all settled down. 

He stepped past Lucian and climbed into the shower standing directly under the spray of water sighing as it hit against his skin, warming him and washing him. He grabbed a cloth and a body wash he’d purchased online and began cleaning himself, Lucian got in behind him, he took the cloth from him and began washing his body for him. Peter leaned his head back against his shoulder, smiled up at him, Lucian kissed him sweetly. He took this time to wash his hair, they switched off once Peter got the soap washed from his skin. He enjoyed these odd little routines, it was normal, couples did things like this sometimes. He never did things like this before, typically showers and tubs were used to have sex with people, send them out, clean up, and then let them wash themselves up after he was done. At most points in his life he would not have wanted a relationship, he wouldn’t have wanted a guy who spent nights in his apartment and took showers with him after they had great sex on his bar. Normally he would have tossed his lovers out, but he agreed with Lucian that it was better letting him stay.

After their shower they dried off and returned to the bedroom, Peter curled up under the comforter, Lucian held him closely as he always did. He liked knowing he’d be there in the morning, he’d be by his sides most mornings so long as Peter asked him to be, that was something nice to know.


	9. Chapter 9

The rain pattered against the window of Peter’s bedroom, he sighed stretching out on the bed as he watched it; the sky was a deep grey, the lights of the city outside and below his penthouse shined and flickered as they always did, and life outside carried on as if the heavy rain could never deter people from their nonstop partying, after all most were tourists determined to party at any costs. Peter smiled, content as two strong arms wrapped around his waist, lips pressed against the back of his shoulder. He placed his hand over top of Lucian’s, fingers trailing over his skin, up along his forearm. Lips pressed against the back of his neck then the side of it, teeth nipping at his skin just below a mark that was left behind from their earlier make out session. Peter tilted his head to the side allowing him more space to kiss, tongue licking against his skin. Lucian’s hand slid down stopping at his lower stomach, fingers brushing down through his pubic hair before moving back up. Peter turned until he was properly facing him, he kissed him slowly, sweetly. The rain outside filled him with a mood that was quiet, nothing sad, but somewhere nearing peaceful, he nipped at his bottom lip before pulling back. 

Lucian cupped his cheek with one hand, pressed a kiss to his forehead then the bridge of his nose. When his lips met his again there was a longing in the way he kissed him, his hand resting against Peter’s chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his beating heart. 

“This is nice,” Peter commented, he leaned into his touch feeling like he always wanted more of him.

He got bored and lonely when they weren’t together, always ended up texting or calling him to pass the time and fill that loneliness that he’d often end up feeling. Lucian hummed his agreement, kissed the corners of his mouth then his lips again, Peter reached out brushing his fingers against his chest, fingers trailing over the cool gold of the necklace that he wore. Lucian gently grasped his wrist, pulled his hand up to his lips pressing a kiss to his palm.

“I’d like to share something very important with you.” He spoke, voice quiet, barely a whisper in the darkness of the bedroom. He kept hold of his hand, thumb brushing against his palm.

“What is it?” He doubted there could be secrets more intense than finding out he wasn’t a human, he doubted anything could really surprise him now.

“This necklace once belonged to a woman I loved very dearly.”

“What happened to her?”

A sad smile tugged at his lips; eyes downcast as if he couldn’t find a way to look at him while he spoke about this. “She was the daughter of Viktor, my master, we were close in age, practically grew up together though not in the normal sense. When she could sneak away, we would talk or play together when we’d still been children, then later in life we grew close. I think I’d always loved her to an extent, it intensified with time, I felt finally alive when I got to hold her for the first time.” He paused, sad and lost looking as he remembered her. Peter took hold of his hand gently squeezing, wanting him to know he didn’t have to continue if he didn’t wish to. “We became lovers, nobody knew for some time, I planned an escape, and I hoped she would come with me. They found out though, her father and his men; I alone would have been punished, it would have been the first time, but then she-she told him she was pregnant with my child, our child, and….” He trailed off again this time showing no signs of continuing.

Peter wrapped an arm around him pulling him close against himself, he kissed the top of his head. He minded himself careful to keep his hand from the scars that mapped across most of his back, keeping to his waist. He could feel the wet warmth of tears against his skin and his heart did ache for him. He’d always wondered, it was hard to believe he went hundreds of years without ever being in love. He couldn’t wrap his head around the idea of falling in love with a vampire, couldn’t imagine how dangerous the situation had been for them both spending all those years sneaking around and hiding. He didn’t need details to know that the story didn’t end well, the way Lucian trembled as he held him told him everything he needed to know. He felt useless having no words to speak to him, but he supposed physical comfort and the knowledge that he wasn’t alone would be enough, it seemed to be enough. 

It was some time before his crying ceased and he fell into sleep, Peter stayed awake, listening to the rain and focusing on the warmth of his partner’s breath against his skin. He’d not allowed himself to dwell much on Lucian’s time as a slave, it was a difficult thing to process, something awful that made him rather sick to think about. He wondered how she had felt, having to pretend she didn’t have feelings for one of their servants, it had to be Hell on them both. He wished it had gone differently for them, wondered what would have happened if they hadn’t been found out, if they’d gotten to leave and start their family. He was still adjusting to the fact that some breeds of vampires could have children through typical reproduction, still a bizarre thing to know about. He felt for him that he’d wanted that, wanted a bride and a family of their own. He himself had never really thought long about family, his had been so fractured after his parents died, a complicated home life with his aunt and uncle. It hadn’t been until sometime in his twenties where the thought began to strike him about having a kid, but then he’d think about how he was as a person and the thought would be shoved away. He wasn’t the type to have kids or be a parent, he’d be too scared of how badly he’d fuck up as a parent, and he knew bad memories stuck with a kid for a lifetime. He should know, he had millions of bad memories from his adolescence.

He closed his eyes and listened to the rain, it was quieter now as it started to come to a close, life carried on outside his apartment.


	10. Chapter 10

Peter’s back connected hard with the wall, a deep groan of pain welling up in his throat as he clenched his jaw. Anger flashed in his dark eyes as he pushed himself away from the wall, silver dagger clutched firmly in his hand, his grip so tight his knuckles turned bone white. He charged towards the vampire who backed away from him, a smirk on his face, eyes filled with a challenge, the bastard was enjoying this, he wouldn’t for much longer. He could hear commotion from inside the house, crashing, and shouting followed by a gunshot. They had spent two months tracking these bastards, despite his exhaustion he threw himself forward, blade raised and aimed towards the vampire’s broad chest. The vampire grabbed him by the back of his t-shirt threw him to the ground sending him rolling, the knife nearly falling out of his hand as he came to a stop. Every muscle in his body burned and screamed for him to just rest, just for a bit, or for a year. He winced as he lifted himself onto his knees just in time for the much larger creature to kick him hard in the ribs knocking him back onto his side. Peter grabbed his leg with his free hand, leaned in and bit down hard on his calf, the action shocking the vampire enough that he stumbled back, falling on his ass when Peter jerked his leg hard. Glass shattered not far from them, the vampire’s head jerked to the side as he struggled to see what had happened, who had been possibly thrown through the home’s window. During his moment of distraction Peter loomed over him, slammed the knife into his chest, twisting it in deeper as it tore through flesh and viscera. Blood spurted and pooled when he jerked the knife out, the vampire’s eyes were wide as he clutched a hand over the gaping wound, Peter drove the knife down again, stabbing into his hand, heard the crunching and ripping as he pierced his bones and stabbed into his chest once more, the knife pinning his hand to his chest. The body beneath him bucked and writhed eventually knocking Peter back onto the ground, he lay there staring up at the night sky filled with stars, the moon hanging above him shining a light on this waking nightmare. His chest heaved with panting breaths, mouth dry, and body exhausted.

Heavy breathing that was not his own approached carried by heavy footsteps, soon he felt hot puffs of air against the side of his face. He turned his head to the side to see the familiar wolf’s face, inky black eyes somehow conveying a deep concern. Peter managed a smile as he reached up a shaky hand to pet through the thick black fur on top of Lucian’s head, the wolf’s ears pinning back as he leaned into his touch, lowering himself to the ground for more efficient petting.

“I’m okay, are you okay, didn’t get shot, did you?” He asked doing his best to lift himself into a sitting position, hissing at the pain he felt. 

Lucian whimpered, the wolf nudging against his side as if quietly ordering him to lay back down, but this was not a place that Peter wanted to rest for the night. He gave it a minute before he painfully pulled himself to his feet, as a man in his thirties he was too old for this, or more honestly he was too out of shape for this, even in his twenties he wouldn’t have been able to handle all this. Lucian trailed alongside him as Peter entered the destroyed home, several dead vampires lay in the living room, another in the kitchen, and of course on the lawn there was a fifth. Peter petted the wolf’s head as he headed back out the door, back towards his waiting car. 

“As much as I like you like this, think you could change back? I’m still a bit pissed about the last time you got in my car like this, clawed up my leather seats y’know.” He complained as he leaned against the side of his car waiting as Lucian shifted back into a more familiar human shape. “Better, c’mon I need some pain killers chased with whiskey shots.” Peter said as he climbed into the car.

Lucian got in on the passenger side, mostly quiet, naked, and stained with blood. He reached into the backseat grabbing the plastic bag with clothes in it. It was something they’d begun doing after it became routine for him to shift when they were on hunting jobs. 

“Did you learn anything?” Peter asked, glancing over to watch him awkwardly struggle to pull his jeans on.

“Nothing helpful, they claimed they weren’t the ones to do it, but they knew who had.” He said as he finally managed to pull his pants up over his hips fastening them.

There had been an increase in mysterious murders around Elko, a small town with loads of mine workers. The police weren’t outfitted the solve crimes that had no natural human explanation, they lied and claimed it to be Satanic rituals, a big theme Peter had noticed in the town. Currently they were staying in a not entirely shit motel called Thunderbird, the price to stay was low, and the interior wasn’t the worst Peter had seen. Still he had noticed the receptionist eye them suspiciously when they’d checked in, Peter requesting a room with two beds, out of habit, Lucian hadn’t noticed thankfully. It turned out the vampires they had been tracking, whether they’d killed all those people or not were living outside of Elko, a few minutes out of the town like some sort of half-baked cult. 

“Do you think somebody else did it or are they just lying to us?”

Lucian let out a dry laugh, ran his fingers back through his knotted and blood-soaked hair. “I don’t know, but perhaps we’ll hear something soon.” 

They pulled into a parking space near where their room was. Peter got out first, quickly glancing around the lot to make sure nobody would see them as they snuck into their own room. The last thing he needed was people to see two blood-soaked men who wore too much black clothing entering a motel room. The inside of the room was small; the two king-sized beds practically filled the space, a small TV sat on a dark wood dresser, a mirror hung behind it taking up most the wall space. Off to the side was where the bathroom was; small and slightly cramped, the fluorescent lights washing the room in blinding lights that weren’t remotely flattering. Peter kicked off his boots and peeled off his shirt, his skin felt sticky and wet, his jeans were ripped and muddied. Lucian was already ahead of him, stripped naked and going into the bathroom to shower. Peter went to the dresser grabbing up a bottle of prescription pain killers he’d bought off a twenty-year old named Chad, chased them down with a long pull of Jack Daniels before heading into the bathroom. He slipped into the shower, arms wrapping around Lucian’s waist as he pressed up against his back pressing a kiss against his shoulder. 

“We’re both rather disgusting right now.” Lucian commented as he turned around to face him. He reached over Peter grabbing the small bottle of shampoo, began massaging a dollop of it into his hair and scalp, Peter moaned his eyes closing in response. He leaned against him pressing kisses along his chest. 

“Yeah, kinda hot though.” He muttered against his water soaked skin, nuzzled against his chest. Lucian’s hands moved lower, rubbing and massaging against his shoulders. Peter wasn’t sure if it was the drugs, the booze, or the strong hands pressing and kneading sore muscles, but he felt incredible. “Feels nice” 

Lucian gently pressed him back against the shower wall, one hand moving to his chin tilting his head back so he could look him in the eye. Peter smiled at him, liked that way he had of looking at him that was so intense and incredibly soft. He leaned down kissing the lycan, tongue swiping across his bottom lip. Lucian’s hand found his hip, fingers rubbing against his skin, Peter kissed along his jaw, softly moaned when he felt that hand slip between his legs. Fingers slid between the lips of his pussy, teasingly brushed against his clit, he ground down against his hand, knotted his fingers in his hair. Lucian kissed him before lowering himself to his knees, he placed one hand on Peter’s hip and the other firmly gripped his thigh lifting his leg up. Peter hooked his leg over his shoulder, watched as his boyfriend leaned in sliding his tongue between his lips, the tip of his tongue teasing his clit. Peter curled his fingers in his hair jerking his head forward, eyes slipping closed as he felt his tongue circling him before he began sucking against him, two fingers slipping into him. Peter scratched against his scalp moaning and begging as he rocked down against him needing to feel more of him. He leaned his head back against the shower wall, moaning and cursing as he felt his fingers thrusting into him, felt the way he sucked and licked against him drawing him quickly to his release. Peter felt exhausted as he came down from the high of release, Lucian got climbed to his feet, wrapped his arms around him holding him close against himself as he kissed him slowly.

Once they finally managed to finish their shower they got out, dried off and headed to the bed nearest the bathroom. The bed wasn’t immensely comfortable, the sheets and comforter both sterile and white, cheap compared to what he was used to. Lucian curled up behind him, arm wrapped around his waist, occasionally he would press kisses to his shoulder or his back, whisper sweet loving things against his skin that made him feel a way that nobody else had ever made him feel, he didn’t know he could feel this way. He fell asleep with ease, slept most of the night until he woke with a start, that momentary confusion one often felt when they woke in a motel room. Once he reminded himself, they were in a motel in a small town he relaxed again, but still his mind felt odd. He remembered shards of a nightmare that still lingered in the back of his mind, knew it had been about his family, it always was. He disentangled himself from his boyfriend’s embrace, pulled a pair of boxers from his suitcase slipping them on, grabbed his cigarettes and lighter then headed outside. The sky slowly lighting up, darkness fading into early morning, soon the sun would rise over the trees in the distance shining down on them, bringing with it the gross intense heat of the dessert. Peter lit his cigarette, leaned back against the wall of the motel and watched the parking lot, listened to cars that drove down the street, the occasional horn of a pissy driver blaring. His mind did wander to his family, he knew he should call his aunt and check in on her. The idea always made him feel gross though, guilty he supposed. He rubbed at the scar on his wrist, glared down at it, it wasn’t the only one. He considered covering them all with tattoos, wash them away, and pretend they weren’t ever there.

Peter startled when the door opened, he looked to see Lucian closing the door behind him, he looked tired still. Peter offered him a cigarette which he silently took, held it between his lips as Peter lit it for him. They stood in companionable silence as they watched the sun rise, the sky filled with warm colors that honestly did make him feel at ease. Lucian leaned against his side, occasionally glanced up at him as if checking to see if he was alright.

“Nightmares?” 

Peter nodded, finished his cigarette dropping the stub to the ground watching as it smoldered, smoke rising in skinny white wisp that faded to nothing. Lucian wrapped an arm around him, kissed the side of his head. 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Just the same they usually are, me listening while my parents are murdered. Can’t I just have normal nightmares like about giant squid monsters or some shit, I’d love that just once.” 

Lucian remained quiet, took hold of his hand, his fingers did occasionally brush across those scars on his wrist and his arm, but he never asked, and Peter was too scared to share. He knew without asking, it was obvious. He finished off his cigarette tossing it to the ground.

“We should get back inside.” He commented, Peter went with him as he dragged him back into their shared room.

Inside it was cool, nearly cold compared to the warmth outside. Peter flopped down on their bed; eyes fixed on the white ceiling. Lucian sat down next to him, pet his fingers through his messed brown hair, it was a soothing sort of thing that Peter leaned into. He looked at him and felt something akin to love well up in his chest, it scared him.


	11. Chapter 11

It had been difficult for either of them to believe that a lone vampire who only seemed to be recently turned had caused so much chaos, but there had been no others around. They had found the bastard hiding in an old hardware shop that had gone out of business nearly a year ago, apparently the man who owned it had been embezzling money from his own business, planned on leave his wife, and flee the country with a younger woman he’d met online. The shop was small, nearly claustrophobic feeling, Peter had understood why nobody would want the building, unless they wanted to convert it into a Starbucks he thought as he wandered through the empty aisles, there had been three bodies stuffed in what had once been a cleaning supplies closet, the vampire had been hiding behind the counter where a cash register once sat. Peter flinched when he heard a door slam shut, heart beating faster despite the fact he knew it was Lucian coming back inside after disposing of the remains of both mortals and the vampire.

“You think we could stop by Starbucks on the way back home?” Peter called out, a slight break in his voice, that anxiety still sat heavy in his chest.

Footfalls echoed through the building, the sound drawing closer, he turned to see Lucian behind him. He couldn’t help but smile seeing him, ridiculous relief flooding him at what he’d already known.

“What made you want Starbucks?”

Peter shrugged, “I was thinking this place would make a good Starbucks, right size for one, don’t you think?” He asked glancing around.

“I suppose, we should leave before anybody comes by.” He said gently grabbing his arm and leading him out back into the stuffy desert air.

Peter’s car remained the only one in the lot, their bags stuffed in the boot of his car ready to go. He was glad to be getting out of Elko, to be heading back to Vegas where he knew the best bars and night clubs, the bars in small towns were shit. They were always filled with gruff middle-aged men with their judgmental gazes that knew the moment he stepped into their establishment that he didn’t belong in such a place, reminded him of home come to think of it. Once in the car he turned the air conditioning on high, it took only a moment until he felt cold air pulsing out of the small vents, smiled as he relaxed in his seat pulling out of the lot and back onto the main road. They drove in relative silence, he glanced at Lucian from time to time observing the way he stared out the window, brow furrowed as he thought about things.

“He was newly turned, only a month.” Lucian spoke at last as the small town faded out of their view.

“Feeding frenzy maybe,” 

“Suppose it could be, newly turned creatures do that, vampires especially.”

“What about werewolves and lycans, do they ever do that?”

“Perhaps, I’ve heard that it does happen, but most lycans I have known will be vicious as a wolf as they were a human.”

Peter nodded, tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. He felt more at ease as they re-entered Vegas, smiled to himself when he drove by a man vomiting on the sidewalk, his sick nearly hitting the stilettos of the woman he was with, she looked less than pleased with him. He went through the Starbucks drive-thru ordering a latte, nothing for Lucian since he always seemed less than pleased with the coffee at the establishments around them, preferring black coffee at his house or Peter’s penthouse. 

“Hey so do you want me to drop you at your place or just head back to mine?” He asked as casually as he could, they’d been together for some time now, sure not a long time, but much longer than Peter was accustomed to.

When it happened and rarely it did, he didn’t date long. He got bored or felt trapped in, panicked the first time a girlfriend or boyfriend left a change of clothes at his place or asked him to meet their friends, usually ended up sleeping with one of their friends. He hadn’t panicked so far, though there was a panicked feeling as he thought about how much he loved him. He went from hoping that a night of amazing sex would drive away all his feelings and attractions towards Lucian to finding himself falling in love with him, it was far from ideal. He wasn’t certain anything could work out between them, not in the long term, Lucian would technically live forever while Peter wouldn’t. The thought worried him, he often wondered if Lucian thought about that, if it bothered him. 

“I can stay the night with you, if you don’t mind.”

“I never mind, like having you around.”

Conversation fell back into talk of vampires, killings throughout the states and the various breeds of vampires that were popping up locally. Their bizarre brand of shop talk felt comforting and normal, something that Peter never imagined he would think when it came to vampires. Then again, he never planned on sharing a car or a bed with a lycan, a fact that was increasingly normal for him. He felt more at ease with the supernatural, there was no longer a deep terror within him forcing him to run and hide away from the ugly truths of the world. It used to be that he never would have been able to fight vampires, he couldn’t before confront the truth of their existence, but now it was second nature for him. He still had fears, he did still fear being turned; he knew for most breeds all it took was a bite and their infection would flood through his bloodstream leaving him to become like him. He’d have nightmares still about becoming a vampire, being cursed, losing everything. His nightmares came and went, he could go periods without nightmares plaguing his mind and then he’d be bombarded by then night after night often leaving him feeling sleep deprived. His sleep the night before had been night enough until a nightmare had startled him from sleep leaving him tired and high strung, a ridiculous paranoia of being watched. He kept that to himself, knew it was ridiculous.

He felt better when they pulled up to his place, got out of the car collecting their baggage from the boot of the car and entering the towering building. He was so utterly grateful to be back home, away from sterile motel rooms with no tasteful décor. He relaxed when they entered the lift, leaned back against the wall sipping from his drink and gazing at his blurred reflection in the metal doors of the lift as it rose to the top floor where his penthouse apartment waited. He’d missed what he called home, missed even more sharing it with Lucian even if it would only be for a night, maybe a couple of days if he got lucky enough. Sometimes there was the urge to ask him if he’d like to move in with him, but he doubted that the lycan would agree to that. He worried that perhaps things would end sooner if they did live together, that he’d say or do something to utterly wreck their relationship for what it was, something safe and pleasant that could be ruined at any moment by Peter’s moronic actions. He did give himself credit though, he’d behaved, he pushed back all urges to fuck it up.

The doors slid open and they stepped out of the lift, Peter pulled out his key and unlocked the door pushing it open. The alarm began beeping only stopping its blaring noise when he disarmed it. Lucian set their bags down by the door, neither of them in the mood really to mess with unpacking anything. Peter closed and locked the door behind them, double checking that it was indeed locked before moving away from it heading to the dining table where he set his cup down before shrugging out of his jacket throwing it across the back of a chair. He sighed as he picked up his cup taking it to the bar where he removed the lid tossing it in the bin, grabbed a bottle of Wild Turkey and began pouring generous amounts of booze into what remained of his coffee. He caught Lucian watching him, a mild look of disapproval in his gaze, Peter picked up the remote for the stereo turning it on, music flooding his flat at a low background noise volume. He took a long drink humming at the now slight burn that came with his drink, much improved, he didn’t understand why they couldn’t sell coffee with a side of alcohol, it would save him time. He made his way towards the living room where he seated himself in his throne like chair.

He watched as Lucian settled himself on the couch, legs laid across the seats, Peter’s laptop on his lap. “Don’t click any of those tabs I have open, don’t much feel like explaining what I was looking at.” He casually warned him taking another long pull from his drink.

“I’ve learned my lesson already, I just wanted to check some potential cases, but I think they’re more the human on human violence variety and not supernatural.” 

Peter watched him as he scrolled through websites, checking forums before reaching the conclusion that sometimes humans did horrendous and bizarre things before logging off Peter’s laptop and carefully setting it on the coffee table. He was always much more careful with Peter’s belongings than Peter was, it was rather sweet. Lucian got up from the couch moving to where Peter sat, he settled himself down on his lap taking the cup from his hand setting it to the side. He leaned down kissing him, tongue swiping across his bottom lip, Peter’s hands rested against his hips. 

“God you’re beautiful,” Peter whispered against his lips.

Lucian smiled, stroked his fingers along his jaw as he kissed him again, teeth nipping against his bottom lip. He could say many more things to him, but it was the easiest thing to say, easier than telling him he loved him. He leaned up kissing along his neck, busied his lips to keep himself from speaking words that could very possibly not be returned. He wasn’t sure if Lucian loved him, wasn’t entirely sure that he could love him, what if he’d only had one love and that would always be it? It would be fine, but painful to hear, painful to be rejected. He settled instead for keeping the feeling to himself, pulling at his shirt until it was on the floor, rubbed his hands along his sides, kissed down his chest. Lucian tangled his fingers in his hair pulling his head back, kissed him hungrily, Peter moaned into it. Lucian moved off him settling on his knees between his legs, he reached forward unbuckling his belt and unzipping his jeans, Peter lifted his hips assisting him with pulling his pants and boxers down over his hips. He trailed kisses up along his inner thigh, teeth nipping at sensitive flesh as he moved upwards. Peter stroked his fingers through his hair, nails occasionally scratching at his scalp, he bit at his bottom lip watching him, those deep blue eyes focused on him, lips brushing against him before he moved up to press a kiss to his exposed lower stomach. He moved down again, tongue flicking against his clit, teasing licks that left him frustrated and aroused, begging as he rocked his hips. Lucian placed a hand against his hip, his grip firm as he licked more firmly against him drawing a low moan from his partner. He pulled away from him, climbing to his feet unfastening his own jeans pushing them down, he leaned down kissing him slowly, tongue pressing into his mouth. Peter placed a hand against the back of his neck drawing him in closer as they kissed, he kicked his jeans off the rest of the way, Lucian grabbed hold of his hips pulling him closer to himself, Peter moaned into the kiss when he felt his cock entering him. He wrapped his legs around his waist pulling him in deeper, eyes slipping closed as he threw his head back against the chair. 

Lucian kissed along his neck, biting and sucking against his skin as he thrust into him, his pace slow and deep, picking up as Peter begged him for more. He thrust back against him, nails digging against his bare shoulders, he felt hot breath against his skin, Lucian’s moans against his skin mixed with his words of adoration and praise that made Peter love him all the more. It wasn’t long until he was cumming inside him filling him with his release, fingers finding Peter’s clit stroking him to his own completion. Peter kissed along his jaw, nuzzled against the side of his neck. Felt nearly disappointed when Lucian slipped out of him, stepping away from him long enough to undress the rest of the way, he held out a hand to Peter helping him up from his chair and leading him back towards the bathroom. They bathed then returned to their bed where they lay together. Peter’s head rested against his chest listening to the strong beating of his heart, he smiled softly as he felt his hand rubbing along his side, the occasional kisses to the top of his head. Love was the word on his tongue, a word so strong and powerful and terrifying, he worried of all the bad things that could occur if he were to speak those words into existence.


	12. Chapter 12

A nightmare had woken him leaving him trembling, his skin coated with cold sweat, he pushed shaky fingers back through his damp hair pushing it away from his face. His chest rose and fell with unsteady panting breaths, he glanced down to see Lucian still curled up at his side. Peter buried his face in his hands groaning, tears pricked at his eyes as the images of his nightmare tried to push towards the front of his mind, to remind him of what it was that had roughly woken him in such a state. Even awake he felt off, felt shaken, and as if this wasn’t real but that the nightmare world had been real. Slowly he climbed out of bed, felt the soft carpet beneath his feet, quietly made his way into the bathroom stripping out of his shirt and shorts. He ran a shower for himself, the too hot spray of water against his skin making him hiss in pain, but it was nice. It reminded him of what was real, this, not that stupid nightmare of his. He touched against the side of his neck where he’d felt fangs pierce deeper and deeper, had felt that poison seeping into his bloodstream changing him into what he feared most. What had been worse had been the vampire biting him had been his own father, eyes inky black, and his mother had stood there watching, her own eyes black and inhuman. Peter rested his forehead against the black tile of the shower wall, tears ran down his cheeks mixing with the water, his skin felt raw, stinging as water hit against it. He jumped when he felt an arm brush against his side, the water cooling until it was safely warm. Careful arms wrapped themselves around his body turning him to face his very concerned and confused looking boyfriend. Normally he was alone in his home when he had breakdowns related to nightmares or his panic attacks related to late night over thinking about human existence or every bad decision he’d made in his short life. Lucian stroked his fingers along his jaw, Peter glanced away from him feeling stupid. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to get out of the shower and avoid speaking to him, if he wanted to sob against him like a scared child, or if he wanted to be mature and tell him what had scared him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.” He spoke at last, voice weak, cracking as he spoke. 

“What’s wrong?”

Peter shook his head, he turned to shut the water off climbing out of the shower and grabbing a towel from the wall rack, he dried himself off before going to the vanity mirror where he looked at his reflection. There were no marks on his neck, his eyes were human, blood shot and exhausted looking. He sighed taking a step back and rubbing his hands over his face.

“Just a stupid nightmare, that’s all it was.” He told him, shrugging as he returned to the bedroom and climbing back into bed. He reached into the drawer of his bedside table pulling out a flask, uncapped it and began drinking from it, only stopping when Lucian snatched it from his hand setting it out of reach.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Rather drink actually,” he said starting to climb out of bed, only stopping when Lucian gently took hold of his arm. He knew he could pull away from him, but he also knew he was being ridiculous burying himself in alcohol instead of just talking to the first person he’d known who wasn’t going to judge him or roll their eyes. He settled back into bed his eyes downcast. “I had a nightmare that my parents had been turned, not killed, and that my father was turning me into one of them. Not the first time, I’ve had a lot of nightmares like that.” He confessed, he anxiously chipped away at his nail polish just needing something else to fixate on.

Lucian placed a hand against his back between his shoulder blades, his touch soothing on his still hot skin. “I’m sorry,” it was a simple response, he knew perhaps he didn’t know what else he could say, sorry was more than anybody had ever said to him. This alone was more than anybody had ever offered him in terms of comfort.

“You ever have nightmares like that, about people?” 

“I have, I still do, I’ve lost a lot of people.”

Peter nodded his head, he sighed feeling frustrated with himself. “Sorry for being weird, normally I’m alone when that happens, which to be honest it never exactly ends well when I’m alone.” He said as he traced his fingers against scars that were mostly faded, impulse had been the only reason he ever stuck to his forearms. 

Lucian moved closer to him, wrapped an arm around his waist, chin resting on his shoulder. “I’m here for as long as you want me here.” 

He smiled, “so like the rest of my life then?”

“If you’d like,” he responded, kissed the side of his neck. 

“If I tell you something, you won’t like just up and leave, right?”

“I don’t plan to, what is it?”

Peter let out a shaky breath, gaze still fixed on his hands as he felt his heart’s heavy beating in his chest. “I love you,” he said, the words holding so much weight to them as he spoke them into the darkness of his bedroom.

He anxiously waited for Lucian to pull away from him, to tell him that he didn’t see him that way, that it couldn’t be that way. He was surprised when Lucian didn’t pull away from him, when he felt familiar lips and the scratch of a well-kept beard against the side of his neck, could feel him smiling against his skin. 

“I love you too,” 

It was a relief to hear those words, to know how true they were, that this was the one person who wouldn’t lie to him about such a thing. Peter turned around to face him, wrapped his arms around his neck hugging him, he kissed him deeply, sighing as he felt fingers bury themselves in his damp hair. Lucian laid him back against the bed, he kissed against his jaw whispering the words against Peter’s skin, each time it felt more real. 

“I was fucking scared you’d leave.” 

Lucian rested a hand against his cheek, kissed him softly. “I wouldn’t do that to you, I promise.” He kissed him again, thumb stroking against his skin. “You are the first person I’ve loved since Sonja, the first mortal I’ve felt properly comfortable around. You mean quite a lot to me.” 

It was bizarre having somebody talk to him like that, to tell him that he meant so much to them. He almost wanted to worry over it, worry about how it could end, how maybe Lucian got it wrong and he wasn’t the person who he thought he was, the person who could treat him well and love him. He was too happy to fixate on those thoughts, those worries of his. He felt safe in his embrace, being kissed by him and reminded that he wasn’t alone any longer, there was such a warmth in that knowledge that he didn’t have to be alone any longer, that he was worthy of being loved by somebody. His nightmare faded from his mind as he curled up against him, still unable to sleep, but feeling much safer than he had a few minutes ago.


End file.
